A HISTORY PROCEEDINGS IN THE CITT OP NEW ORLEANS, ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES IN HONOR OF CALHOM, CLAY AID WEBSTER, WHICH TOOK PLACE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 1852. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CITY COUNCIL. c, L, NEW ORIEANS: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE PICAYUNE. 1853. PREFACE. THIS PAMPHLET is designed to preserve in a connected and durable form, a full account of the Public Obsequies celebrated in the City of New Orleans on the 9th of December, 1852, in honor of the illustrious statesmen CALHOUN, CLAY, and WEBSTER. Every thing connected with the ceremonial, from its first inception at a public meeting in Banks' Arcade, through all the stages of preparation, to the final grand conclusion, is herein minutely and faithfully recorded, and is deemed eminently worthy of preservation, as a memorial of a great event in the history of the age, a rare incident in our municipal annals, and a magnificent spectacle, which will not soon be surpassed. The ceremonial will be marked by all who witnessed it, as an epoch in their lives. No such pageant, so vast in its scale, so full in its details, managed with so much skill, and executed so perfectly has ever before been exhibited here. The Executive Committees seem to have exactly comprehended the wishes of their fellow-citizens, and all they proposed was amply responded to by the voluntary acts of the people. The long drawn and solemn procession, marching to the sounds of wailing music, with banners craped and muffled, escorted the stately hearse and its funeral urns, with all the appointed emblems of mourning, through streets thronged with silent multitudes, and draped with spontaneous habiliments of grief. For the whole route, extending miles, not only the streets and sidewalks were thronged almost to obstruction, but the windows, story upon story, and the verandahs, balcony over balcony, were filled with serious PREFACE. faces, looking intently upon the moving train below. Sable draperies curtained and festooned whole rows of houses, and scarcely a block failed to exhibit some costly or tasteful device, in unison with the official preparations, and exhibiting the universal sympathy with the objects of this public homage. Setting aside all of this, which might rightfully be attributed to individual vanity and love of display, or to the popular fondness for parades and holidays, there was in the whole proceeding a sincerity and earnestness of feeling rarely witnessed, and which is not likely to be witnessed by any man twice in his lifetime. The thought, unexpressed, and perhaps not clearly defined, produced a profound impression upon most minds, that with the death of the Illustrious Triumvirate, whose memory these obsequies were designed to honor, a great gulf has been opened between the present and the past of the country that we are entering upon a new era in our national career, without the counsels that have thus far been our guides the genius that has illuminated our way the eloquence and wisdom we have been accustomed to invoke, and have never found to fail us in moments of peril or doubt. The sense of national deprivation and national loss is thus obscurely mingled with misgivings for the future which a rigid examination by reason might not altogether justify, but which testifies to the vast space occupied in men's thoughts and hearts by the Great Dead. We are not of those who believe that nature exhausts itself in any age in the production of great minds : or that any epoch will be found in human history without the evolvement of the genius to grapple with events and shape them to the ends of human progress. Others will rise to take the mastery of their own generation, to become orators, philosophers, statesmen, for those who come after us. PREFACE. 5 But the events and the training by which they are to be raised to the height of matured intellect and power to which these had attained in the acknowledged estimate of their cotemporaries, lie in that undis- covered future, into which we strain our thoughts vainly to penetrate. We have seen them in the fullness of their development, and we mourn them, not as men with whom greatness and virtue and elo- quence have perished from the land, but because we know what they were, and what they have done, and were capable of doing : and we do not know who is to be the CALHOUN, the CLAY, or the WEBSTER of the time that we feel to be coming, when we know that we shall need them. There is no want of faith in Providence or trust in humanity, in the mingling of these doubts for the future with the grateful memories of the past, and the reverent homage we pay to the great endowments and great virtues with which the subjects of these funeral tributes have elevated and adorned the American name. Among the superstitions of the heathens prevalent in all times, but most known to us in the literature of the classics, is that which supposes the spirits of the dead to be pleased and composed by the honors paid to their mortal remains. Hence the ancients instituted expensive games and sacrifices for the dead. Among barbarous nations the sentiment runs into cruel excesses, corresponding with the character of the race, in offering that which was most exciting to the pride and passions of the living, as a tribute after death. The Iliad closes with a gorgeous account of the pomp with which Troy exhibited her acute grief for the death of her great champion. " Such honors Ilion to her hero paid, And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." A purer code has reformed the philosophy of this belief and changed the manner of its manifestations, but the sentiment which gave rise to it is eternal and universal. The great pass away, and 6 PREFACE. we do not now institute games, or slaughter oxen, or build up sacri- fices. We think not that their shades will repose more or less quietly from any manifestation of our reverence and regret. But we give vent to natural and honorable emotions ; and though the rest of the dead may not be stirred to any human joy by any thing done for their honor on earth, we know and feel that many a living heart, strained with cares, and striving against doubts and discouragements in the steep ascent to fame, will be soothed and strengthened in its tasks, and borne onward and upward in its aspirations, by these majestic tokens of the homage which genius wins from the world. They set up beacons upon which longing eyes gaze intently in absorbing veneration for the past, and swelling souls find in them a perpetual motive and unfailing support in the toils and exertions of public life. They are the aliment upon which young ambition feeds and hardens until it is able to achieve the greatness it emulates, and to earn the lofty rewards of posthumous renown, the aspiration after which first fired its zeal. In the contemplation of these unstinted honors to the memory of CALHOUN, CLAY and WEBSTER, not only will many an obscure youth find stimulants to perseverance in the path of public duty, but living statesmen yet in the heat of conflict, may find in them the consoling assurance of a just appreciation, when they, too, shall have emerged into an atmosphere cleared of the partisan mists of the day. To that serene region, Death raises them at once. There the prejudices of the time vanish, and the instincts of justice, gratitude and reverence resume their sway. The dead have no longer partisans or enemies among their countrymen. We all join to do honor to their memory to claim an equal share in their renown to mourn together over their loss, and to unite as kindred to plant laurels upon their tombs. A HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, ON THE OCCASION OF THE FDNERAL CEREMONIES IN HONOR OF CALHOUN, CLAY AND WEBSTER, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9th, 1852. The intelligence of the death of DANIEL WEBSTER was first made known in New Orleans, by the publication of an extra issued from the office of the Picayune, on the afternoon of the day on which the illustrious American died. The event, which threw the greatest nation of the world into unfeigned mourning, took place at the country residence of the deceased, Marshfield, Massachusetts, at 3 o'clock, on the morning of Sunday, October 24th, 1852. The Picayune alone, received the sad news that day, by telegraph, and immediately pub- lished it, accompanied by the following message, promptly issued by the Hon. A. D. Grossman, Mayor of this city. MAYORALTY OF NEW ORLEANS, October 24, 1852. The American people are again bowed down in grief for the lose of one of their greatest and most patriotic statesmen. DANIEL WEBSTER, whose matchless intellect towered above all his compeers, is no more. Of that mighty trio CLAY, CALHOUN and WEBSTER each one of whom devoted a lifetime to his country's cause, and whose dying breath was yielded up in the service of a grateful and admiring, but now, alas ! afflicted people, the last has been gathered to the tomb of his fathers. But a few short months since, the nation was called upon to mourn the loss of HENRY CLAY, and now again the funeral pall is spread over the land at the announcement of the death of DANIEL WEBSTER. And while a nation's tears are flowing at this national bereavement, it is fitting that we should display the outward simbols of woe, as an evidence feeble and inadequate though the expression may be of the affection, esteem, admiration and reverence in which the lamented deceased was held in this community. For DANIEL WEBSTER, though calling himself a citizen of Massachusetts, was emphatically a national man in the broadest sense of the term. Therefore, I, A. D. Grossman, Mayor of the City of New Orleans, do issue this my proclamation, recommending to my fellow-citizens as a token of respect for the departed statesman, to abstain from their ordinary business associations on Monday next, the 25th hist I also recommend that the flags be displayed during the day at half-mast from the various public buildings, and from vessels and steamboats in port, and that minute guns be fired from sunrise to sunset, the command- ing officers being authorized to carry this order into execution. It is expected that the various offices of the City Government, as well as all other public offices, be closed after 12 o'clock, on that day. (Signed) A. D. GROSSMAN, Mayor. 8 HISTORYOFTHE That important and responsible body, the Whig Central Execu- tive Committee of the State of Louisiana, held a special meeting, and published the following feeling and appropriate remarks and resolutions : SUNDAY APTBBNOON, Oct. 24, 1852. The Intelligence of the death of DANIEL WEBSTER having been communicated to this Com- mittee, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : Another great name has been added to the list of the dead ! Another bright star blotted out from the galaxy of the nation 1 Another constellation of genius, the rays of which have penetrated the darkest corners of the earth, has set forever in the horizon I The triumvirate of gigantic intellect extols no more t CALHOUN, CLAY and WEBSTEB, each in his turn has obeyed the inexorable decrees of fata The mightiest intellect of the age the great expounder of the Constitution the patriotic and bold advocate of the Compromise the man who submitted to the sacrifice of violent sectional opposition, in order that he might do his duty to his whole country the great defender of American rights, and the liberty of mankind DANIEL WEBSTEB, is dead. A whole nation is again bowed down in sorrow. While yet we grieve for the loss of the immortal CLAY, we are called upon again to mourn. Upon the wings of lightning fit messenger to symbolize and convey the great loss the American people has sustained the intelligence of his death has sped itself to every corner of the land. "The Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," has lost its great supporter. For near half a century he has been to the Constitution an American Atlas upon his broad shoulders he has borno it manfully, repelling successfully attacks upon it from every quarter, until the name of DANIEL WEBSTEB and the American Constitution have become almost " one and indivisibla" The great Whig party of the country has lost another of its distinguished leaders all that is left to it of him is the consciousness of his immortality the remembrance of his virtues the admiration of his genius. The measure of his greatness was full to overflowing. Proud would wo have been as Whigs to have battled under his leadership, to have followed his standard to victory ; but it was decreed by an all-wise Providence that no more of earth's ephemeral honors should be conferred upon him, but that the mighty monarch, Death, should place upon his brow the seal of immortality. While we bend with fitting humility to the inscrutable decree that has deprived our country of one of its brightest ornaments, we feel we should be wanting in our duty as Americans did we fail to offer this, our humble tribute, to the memory of DANIEL WKBSTEB. Be it therefore Resolved, That the Whig Central Executive Committee of Louisiana tender to our brother Whigs of Louisiana and the entire country, our sincere and heartfelt sorrow and profound sympathy for the great loss our country and our party has sustained in the death of DANIEL WEBSTEB. liuolvtd, That the committee room be draped with the usual emblems of mourning, and the members wear the usual badge for thirty days. Rtsalttd, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be forwarded to the afflicted relatives of the deceased. (Signed) I. N. MARKS, President. E. SOLOMON, Secretary. The next morning, the Democratic State Central Committee published the following preamble and resolutions : The intelligence of the death of DANIEL WEBSTER having been communicated to the Com- mittef the rhetorician, but his power of analysis and description was so perfect that they were at once placed in so striking a light as to need no further illustration. And in his replies, the vulnerable points of his adversary were often made so apparent by his simple exposition of them, as to require no other refutation. In this respect his skill was wonderful, and shewed him to be a thorough master of his great art. It rendered him most formidable in deliberative assemblies, and gave him a controlling power over all subjects under discussion. Mr. CALHOUN was through life the opened and determined foe of corruption and of every thing approaching it, whatever phase it might assume whether in power or out of power. He scorned indirection and intrigue. Demagogueism he loathed. He had no relish for the applause of the day, and no sympathy with those who seek it its triumphs had no attractions for him. He did not believe that it was his mission to watch the popular gale and connect himself with the conceits which are thrown up on the surface of society, but to give to his fellow men his own convictions founded on the lights of his own judgment and the dictates of his own conscience. Deeply read in the Scriptures, he manifested on all proper occa- sions a profound reverence for their truth, and a sense of religious obligation. It indeed is the lot of few men to possess a character so complete in all its essential points, and forming so perfect a whole. He who could accomplish so much as Mr. CALHOUX has done, must have been no ordinary man. His success in any one of the branches of his career, as an Administrator, as a Statesman, or as an Orator, is worthy of the ambition of the most aspiring. He was exclusively the architect of his own fortune. He husbanded the scanty opportunities for improvement of his early youth, and by study, reflec- tion, and self-training, prepared himself for his future eminence. By JOHNC. CALHOUN. 63 his own exertions, without the adventitious aids of fortune and of patronage, he placed himself early in life among the foremost men of this land, superior to many in some respects inferior to none. He died in the service of his country, in Washington City, on the 31st March, 1850, leaving a glorious fame and a spotless reputa- tion, and only regretting that he was no longer able to labor in assuring tranquility to the State, and permanent protection to our institutions. He had for sometime been conscious of his approaching end. He preserved his faculties and his composure to the last. His death was marked by those characteristics of simplicity and unostentatious dignity which distinguished his life. Amidst a scene of heart-rending grief of his beloved family and friends, who watched his death-bed with the intense anxiety of devoted affection, he closed his earthly career with the calmness and resignation of a Christian. He has left behind him a great heritage to his children a great example to his country a name renowned in her annals and in the history of free institutions. -0 EULOGIUM ON THE LIFE, CHARACTER AND SERVICES OF HENRY CLAY, BY THEODORE H. McCALEB. Delivered in the Odd Fellows' Hall, on the 9th of December, 1852, on the occasion of the Funeral Obsequies in honor of CALHOUN, CLAY AND WEBSTER. The solemn spectacle, fellow-citizens, which everywhere meets the eye, is one of profound and extraordinary interest. The imposing Ceremonies in which we have been called to participate, have arrested the attention of every patriot, and awakened the tenderest sensibilities of every heart. A day has been set apart by public authority and by common consent, to be consecrated to national sorrow. Our beautiful city has suddenly paused in the midst of her wonted gaiety, to clothe herself in the garments of mourning. Her accustomed song of joy and revelry is hushed; her voice of sorrow is mingling with the funeral strain ; and her heart all saddened and subdued, is throbbing in unison with the muffled drum, as it beats the funeral march in honor of the fallen champions of the Republic. While we contemplate these manifestations of public mourning, this temporary cessation of the ordinary pursuits of life, the aspect of silent sadness which reigns in the usually active and crowded scenes of commercial industry, it is impossible not to feel, and to feel deeply, how weak is the voice of eulogy, how powerless is all human effort to give an adequate expression of our sorrows for the loss of those, to whose memory we have assembled to render our heartfelt tribute of affectionate and grateful regard. It would be vain therefore for me to attempt to give utterance to the emotions of profound humility with which I appear before you, your delegated organ, to perform the melancholy but grateful duty assigned me on this interesting occasion. 66 EULOGY ON Our CALHOUN, our CLAY, and our WEBSTER are no more. They are all gone. One by one, they have passed from the great theatre of their glory and renown. The places which once knew them, will know them no more forever. Almost three years have rolled away since the Nation was called to deplore the loss of her CALHOUN. Months have elapsed since she followed the remains of her CLAY to the chosen spot of his final repose. The voice of Philosophy had whispered peace to her troubled spirit, and the tumultuous agitations of grief had been succeeded by the holy calm of resignation to the irresistible decrees of the Omnific Word ; but her great heart is again pierced by the dart of affliction, and her voice of lamentation, giving utterance alike to her past and present grief, is once more heard over the lifeless form of her WEBSTER. Like the fond mother who has surrendered one by one all her loved and cherished sons to the cold embraces of the grave, who recalls over her last departed the virtues that adorned them all, and beholds again in imagination their noble forms, s when side by side they watched over and protected her with the same filial devotion ; she yields her bleeding heart to that agony of suffering which no hope can assuage, no philosophy can soothe, and pours forth her accumulated sorrows over their common tomb. And now, fellow-citizens, while the venerated names of CALHOUN and WEBSTER are, upon other tongues, the themes of eulogy and praise it becomes my pleasing duty to present to your grateful con- templation a brief review of the life, character and services of HENRY CLAY. Brief, indeed, must be the review of such a life, of such a character, and of such services, to be comprehended within the limits of this occasion. A life from early manhood devoted to the promotion of the happiness, prosperity and glory of his country ; a character whose unsullied purity, moral elevation and Olympic grandeur, have become the bright exemplars of the future statesman ; and services, which in their momentous effects and consequences are to be felt upon the destinies of this Republic through all time, might well be regarded as appropriate subjects to be left to emblazon the tomes of the future historian. It is not, however, for the purpose of imparting knowledge upon topics, of which as Americans you can never be presumed to be HENRY CLAY. 67 ignorant, that in a passing tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead, we advert to the shining qualities that adorned his character, or glance at the prominent part he performed in the grand drama of public life. We seek rather, by reviving a recollection of the past, to awaken the mind to a full and solemn sense of the nature and extent of the national bereavement, and by recurring to the glorious examples that have gone before us, to enable us the better to appreciate the importance of the obligations we are called upon to discharge. As successors to the rich inheritance of constitutional liberty and repub- lican glory bequeathed to us by the good and the great who have gone down to their graves, we cannot hope to preserve that inheritance and transmit it unimpaired to posterity, if we cease to venerate the characters, refuse to emulate the examples, or fail to observe the precepts of those from whom we have received it. We cannot reflect upon the solemn and heartfelt manifestations of public grief which immediately followed the death of Mr. CLAY, without feeling that his highest, his noblest eulogy is the sorrow exhibited by his countrymen on the melancholy occasion. We all felt that the long lingering illness of the venerable patriot had gradually prepared us to listen with calm and Christian resignation to the intelli- gence of his final dissolution. And yet, when on the wings of the lightning that intelligence was conveyed to the remotest parts of the Republic, we well remember how that Republic from its centre to its extremities was convulsed by the shock produced by the sudden assurance that the great Statesman was no more. The whole Nation seemed bowed down with a sense of its irreparable loss, and clothed itself with the habiliments of mourning; and the people joined with one accord in rendering funeral honors to the mighty dead. In every city, town and village through which his mortal remains were borne on their way to their final resting place, the mourning thousands assembled to testify their affectionate regards for his memory. Sorrow was depicted upon every countenance, and all eyes were turned to behold the bier that contained the last of him, who but a few months before, with form erect and eagle eye, had moved in the midst of his admiring countrymen, the object of their gratitude and love. The swelling tones of organs pealing among clustered columns, and along 68 EULOOYON the spacious domes of lofty cathedrals ; the measured toll of funeral bells resounding from the spires of every consecrated fane throughout the length and breadth of the land, were mingling in one universal knell one solemn dirge over the Christian patriot. In view of all which then occurred, and of all which is now passing before us, how forcibly are we reminded of those ebullitions of popular grief which we are told by Tacitus were exhibited in Rome upon the announce- ment of the tidings from Syria, of the death of Germanicus : Ut, ante edictum magistratuum, ante Senatus-consultum, sumpto justitio, desere- rentur fora, clauderentur domus : Passim silentia et gemitus ; nihil compositum in ostentationem ; et quamquam neque insignibus lugentium dbstinerent, altius animis moerebant* Death has indeed most signally exerted its customary effect upon the public estimate of the character and services of our departed Statesman. It has augmented the veneration for his memory, in pro- portion as it has been instrumental in diminishing political asperity and prejudice, and in silencing the senseless clamors of party malice. His great name and illustrious services are upon all tongues. Friend and foe are united in rendering homage to the fame of the noblest of our country's benefactors. All, all now remember the Statesman who stood by his country in the hour of her thickest gloom ; whose moral courage and resolution, sustained by his lofty eloquence, had rendered him equal to every occasion whether an effort was demanded in support of a great measure of public policy, or in vindication of the rights of our Republic against the world. They remember the Patriot, whose great soul at all times and in every emergency embraced his whole country ; whose last act was the noblest evidence of his undying attachment to that Union, to whose best interests, to whose permanent preservation his whole life was steadily and ardently devoted. They remember the MAN, whose name "No act of base dishonor ever blurred ;" the man who walked untouched and triumphant through the fiery furnace seven times-heated, of detraction and persecution ; the man, * Annali b. 3d. HENRYCLAY. 69 for whose foreordained destruction, there were those who paused not to Distort the truth, accumulate the lie, And pile the pyramid of calumny ; the man, who single handed against a host, had fluttered his assailants " like an eagle in a dove cote alone he did it ;" who stormed the very citadel of calumny, and planted the victorious banner of Truth upon its walls ; the man who was ever ready to compromise upon a measure of public policy affecting the security of the union of these States ; but whose chivalric soul ever scorned to compromise a princi- ple, in thought or deed, whenever his own honor or the honor of his country was involved. It is for the loss of such a Statesman, such a Patriot, such a Political Champion, such a Civic Hero, that a grateful and admiring people have been called to mourn. All political animosi- ties are forgotten, or buried forever in his honored grave. His eloquence, his patriotism, the incorruptible purity of the Man, and the comprehensive wisdom and unerring forecast of the Statesman, are alone remembered. In the language of Macauley depicting the sorrows of England for the death of Lord Chatham: " Detraction is overawed. The voice of even just and temperate censure is mute. Nothing is remembered but the lofty genius, the unsullied probity, the undisputed services of him, who is no more. For once all parties are agreed." The life of Mr. CLAY presents a striking illustration of the superior advantages afforded by our free republican institutions for the development of all those attributes of moral and intellectual power which constitute the truly great man. It demonstrates the efficacy of that noble self-reliance which poised upon an indomitable will, and disdaining all foreign aid, recoiling from no shock however violent, and dismayed at no peril however appalling, steadily pursues its end, and patiently but surely works out the salvation and triumph of its possessor. Mr. CLAY was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777, nine months after the Declaration of Independence ; and it may therefore be truly said that his infancy was cradled amid the storms of the Revolution. The first lesson taught him by maternal affection was the story of his country's suffering, and of the heroic 70 BU LOGY ON achievements of those who rose in vindication of her rights against the oppressions of arbitrary power. At five years of age he was fatherless, and according to his own declaration, contained in his memorable reply to one of the many rude and malignant attacks of Mr. Randolph, " inherited from his father nothing but indigence and ignorance." The means of education in the district of country where he was born were extremely limited, and confined to such advantages as were usually afforded in the country schools of that period. In one of these he acquired the mere rudiments of an English education. In 1792, through the kind interposition of friends, he obtained a situa- tion in the office of the Clerk of the High Court of Chancery in Richmond, where at the age of fifteen years, an age when the youth of more favored lands were gaining an introduction to the pages of Cicero and Virgil, Xenophon and Homer, the future Statesman was toiling for a daily subsistence, and acquiring a practical acquaintance with the technicalities and details of that profession, of which he was destined to become one of the brightest ornaments. He soon attracted the attention of the learned and accomplished Chancellor Wythe, by whom he was employed as an amanuensis, and of whose paternal advice and instruction he was for four years the grateful recipient. Through the intercession of his venerable friend, he was admitted into the office of Robert Brooke, Esq., the Attorney General, and formerly Governor of Virginia. He there acquired a sufficient knowledge of the law, to enable him to obtain from the Judges of the Court of Appeals of his native State, a license to practice ; and one year after he entered the office of Mr. Brooke, he left Richmond for the West, and established himself permanently in Lexington, Kentucky. Before leaving Richmond, however, Mr. CLAY had enjoyed peculiar advantages for a young man ambitious of distinction in his profession. He had formed the acquaintance of almost all the distinguished Virginians of that period, among whom may be mentioned Edmond Pendleton, Spencer Roano, Chief Justice Marshall, Bushrod Washington, and Mr. Wickham. It was also his good fortune to hear on two occasions, that unrivalled champion of American Independence, Patrick Henry, once before the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Virginia, on the question of the payment of the British debts ; and HENRY CLAY. 71 again in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the claims of the supernumerary officers in the service of the State, during the Revo- lutionary War. Mr. CLAY retained through life a vivid recollection of the appearance and manner of that extraordinary man. The im- pression of his eloquent powers on his mind was, "that their charm consisted mainly in one of the finest voices ever heard, in his graceful gesticulation, and the variety and force of expression exhibited in his countenance.*" Those who have listened to the eloquence of Mr. CLAY, will remember how preeminently he was distinguished for these very characteristics of the orator, which had impressed his own mind, as prominent ornaments in the eloquence of his renowned exemplar. We can easily imagine the effect which a popular or forensic effort of such a man as Patrick Henry, would produce upon such a mind as Nature had given to young CLAY. We can easily depict in our imagi- nations the beaming countenance of the youthful auditor, as he follows with rapture and delight the daring flights of an orator whose fame he was even then resolved to emulate. We recall the picture of the young Thucydides listening with tearful interest to the beautiful history of Heroditus, as it was read to the admiring multitude at Olympia ; and that of the young Demosthenes, retiring from the applauding throng, upon the conclusion of an oration of Callistratus, to meditate in retirement on the thrilling scene through which he had passed, and under the influence of the fire of inspiration still glowing in his heart, to renew those intellectual toils through which alone he too might hope to win that popular applause, which to the ear of young ambition, is sweeter than the music of the spheres. The professional success of Mr. CLAY in his adopted State far surpassed his fondest hopes, and was in all respects such as might be confidently anticipated from his previous assiduity and exemplary conduct. His energetic devotion to business, his superior talents as an advocate, and his honorable bearing as a man, secured for him popular favor and popular confidence ; and the young and friendless attorney who had rejoiced over his first fee of fifteen shillings, soon found himself in possession of a lucrative practice, and holding a high * Life of Mr. CLAY by Eppes Sargent. 72 EULOGY ON rank at a bar, which even at that early period could number among its members such men as George Nicholas, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, James Hughs, John Breckenridge and William Murray. It may be mentioned as a remarkable fact in connection with his career as an advocate, that he was successful in every criminal trial for a capital offence in which he appeared for the accused party. During his whole political life he was frequently engaged in important cases before the Courts of Kentucky, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. No member of the American bar was more efficient in the presentation of the merits of a case to a jury ; while the many important decisions in favor of his clients, from the highest tribunal known to our law, upon questions of great public importance, and involving principles of constitutional law, bear ample testimony to his professional acumen, his profound research, and his thorough mastery of legal principles. We have the authority of Mr. Justice Story for saying, that as a jurist of extensive attainments and profound ability, Mr. CLAY was regarded by Chief Justice Marshall, the highest authority to which we can appeal as second to no lawyer in this country. After a prosperous and distinguished career as a lawyer and local legislator in the State, among whose generous and gallant sons he had cast his lot for life, he was elected to a seat in the Senate of the United States, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Hon. John Adair. His election was only for the fraction of a term ; but we find in his speeches, and in the resolutions presented by him during that brief period, the germ of that great system of Internal Improve- ment, of which he was afterwards the ablest and most eloquent advocate. On his return to Kentucky, he was again elected by the citizens of Fayette County to represent them in the Legislature of the State, and at the next session was chosen Speaker of the Assembly. He how- ever participated in all the important debates which arose in the body of which he was the presiding officer, and continued actively and with great distinction to serve the State as one of her local representatives, until 1809, when he was again elected to the Senate of the United States. as HENRYCLAY. 73 It would be impossible fellow-citizens, within the limits of this occasion, to notice with minuteness, the splendid services of Mr. CLAY. We shall therefore glance at a few of the most important public measures, and the most prominent political events in the history of the country, with which his name has been intimately associated. We cannot, as Louisianians, pass unnoticed his zealous exertions on the subject of the navigation of the Mississippi; his able and eloquent assertion of the rights of our Government to the district of country lying between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers, a large portion of which now forms a part of our own State ; his active participation in the proceedings of Congress, which enabled Louisiana to form a constitution, and to gain admission into the Union upon an equality with the other members of the Confederacy; and his strenuous efforts in favor of the maintenance of a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, for the protection of the commerce of the valley of the Missis- sippi. These are services which create a local interest in his fame, and which acquire an increasing importance whenever we compare the present position of Louisiana with what it was a short time after she passed from the dominion of France and Spain, to form one in that great family of Independent States, whose commerce is upon every ocean, and whose flag is upon every breeze. But it is rather as citizens of the Union, that we love to dwell upon the services of Mr. CLAY. We love to recur to that dark period in our history, made bright and glorious by American valor and American genius ; a period when the Republic was called upon to vindicate her honor against wrongs committed upon her commerce by England and France, under the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the British orders in council. Under the pretext of prosecuting legitimate hostilities in pursuance of these retaliatory measures, the most atrocious depredations were committed by both nations upon our neutral trade. And while France was induced by our stern remonstrances to abandon her unjust and abominable policy, so far at least as it related to American vessels, England continued to persevere in her course of arrogance and oppression, until an indignant people demanded ven- geance for her unprovoked hostilities upon the property of our L 74 EULOGY ON merchants, and for her barbarous impressment of our mariners while pursuing their peaceful avocations upon the highway of nations. This important crisis in our affairs occurred in 1811, during the administration of Mr. Madison. Mr. CLAY was then a member of the House of Representatives, and had been elected its presiding officer. The mind of the amiable President was inclined to peace, though he afterwards proved firm, when his resolution was once taken. A pacific policy was also recommended by Mr. Gallatin, then at the head of the Treasury Department. Against every measure tending to a declara- tion of hostilities, were arrayed the powerful talents of Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, and Mr. Quincy, of Massachusetts. It is not difficult, however, to imagine what would be the conduct of Mr. CLAY in such an emergency. Like the Antaeus of ancient fable, he rose with renewed and redoubled vigor, under the Herculean pressure of opposition that attempted to bear him to the earth. He was then in the prime of life, " with the rose of heaven upon his cheek, and the fire of liberty in his eye." He saw and felt that there was but one course to be pursued for the vindication of the insulted honor of the country, and for a prompt and effectual redress of her accumulated wrongs, and that course involved a declaration of war. He advocated the embargo laws, because the measure was a direct precursor to war; he advocated the increase of the Army and Navy, and every other measure that would lead to the declaration of hostilities. Side by side with Mr. CALHOUN, he nobly sustained the honor of the country. High above their compeers shone these two young and gallant champions of the Republic the Tancred and Rinaldo of political chivalry. The conduct of Mr. CLAY on that memorable occasion cannot perhaps be better described than by adopting the language of a member of Congress, who was a per- sonal witness of the effect of his eloquence upon the crowds who daily hung upon his thrilling accents. " On this occasion," said he, " Mr. CLAY was a flame of fire. He had now brought Congress to the verge of what he conceived a war for liberty and honor, and his voice rang through the Capitol like a trumpet-tone sounding for the onset. On the subject of the policy of the embargo, his eloquence like a Macedonian phalanx bore down all opposition, and he put to shame HENBYCLAY. 75 those of his opponents who flouted the Government on being unpre- pared for war." His great object was finally accomplished. War was declared. The military and naval resources of the country were called into requisition, and both on the land and on the ocean, the honor of the country was gloriously sustained. In consequence of the friendly interposition of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, a willingness was expressed by the Ministry of England to negotiate with our Government a treaty of peace. Mr. CLAY and Mr. Russell were appointed by Mr. Madison, Commissioners for this purpose, and accordingly Mr. CLAY on the 19th of January, 1814, resigned his station as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and proceeded on his mission to Ghent. He was there joined by Messrs. Adams, Gallatin and Bayard, who had left St. Petersburg and repaired to the place appointed for the meeting of the Commissioners, for the purpose of aiding in the arrangement of the terms of peace. The treaty was signed in December, 1814. Afterwards a commercial convention, highly advantageous to the trade and navigation of the country, was concluded in London, by three of the Commissioners of Ghent, viz : Messrs. Adams, CLAY and Gallatin. The public career of Mr. CLAY was subsequently distinguished by the able, eloquent, and untiring support he gave to the cause of Internal Improvement, and to the protection of Domestic Industry. Let the mere sectional politician say what he may, these great measures were absolutely necessary, to enable the country to develop with rapidity her great natural resources, and to secure her independence of the manufactories of Europe. Those who would properly appreciate the services of Mr. CLAY, must look to the situation of the country while she was yet young and in a comparatively feeble state ; and not to her present prosperous position, with her great facilities for international communication, and for prompt and rapid transportation from State to State ; nor to her splendid manufactories, which are soon destined not only to rival, but to surpass' establishments of the same character in the Old World. Nor should we limit our enquiry to the condition of the country in time of peace; but we should view the subject as the great Statesman himself was accustomed to view it, with reference to 76 EULOGY ON the contingency of war, and to those calamities which war must inevitably entail upon every great commercial nation. What would be the condition of our country without manufactures, and without the facilities of transportation from one part of the Union to the other, for cannon and other munitions of war, while the fleets of a powerful enemy are sweeping the ocean, and prowling along our coasts? The policy of Mr. CLAY demanded the aid of Government, for the prose- cution of what individual resources and individual energy in the earlier period of our history were inadequate to accomplish. He aimed at the security of our commercial independence, and of our internal prosperity, at all times, and in every emergency. With the zeal and energy displayed by our great champion of Universal Liberty, in the cause of South American and Grecian Inde- pendence, you are all familiar. His speech in support of his proposition to send a minister to the United Provinces of the Rio de La Plata, is one of the ablest and. most elaborate arguments which emanated from the illustrious Statesman during his whole public career. It is full of historical information and statistical details, and evinces by its laborious research, the deep, heartfelt anxiety of its author to secure for the colonies the encouragement of our own Government, in the establish- ment of that political independence for which they were nobly con- tending. His speech in support of Mr. WEBSTER'S proposition to send a commissioner to Greece, is a short but gallant appeal in behalf of a people, in whose favor the sympathies of every humane heart would be naturally and most warmly enlisted. There cannot be presented to the imagination of a true friend of liberty, a spectacle more grand and imposing than was exhibited in the Congress of our Republic, when CLAY and WEBSTER, the great Orators of America, stood forth the undaunted advocates of the restoration of freedom to the land of Pericles and Demosthenes. The exertions of Mr. CLAY in behalf of both South America and Greece, were zealously continued during the time he was at the head of the Department of State under the administration of Mr. Adams; and with what success, we shall presently have occasion to notice. As a diplomatist his abilities were displayed to the greatest advantage. In the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Ghent, he HENRYCLAT. 77 wielded "the pen of a ready writer;" while his excellent judgment, great prudence and practical intelligence, rendered him at all times an efficient coadjutor and a safe councillor of his distinguished associates in the commission. He not only aided in bringing to an honorable close the war of 1812, but subsequently also, in conjunction with Messrs. Adams and Gallatin, as we have already seen, in securing by the Commercial Convention signed in London, on the 3d of July, 1815, those reciprocal advantages for our commerce and navigation, which proved to be so effectual in enabling our enterprising mer- chants to recover from the paralyzing consequences of the war. His easy and conciliatory deportment, his perfect freedom from all duplicity, and from that mysterious, enigmatical style of conducting diplomatic conferences, once so common at the different courts of Europe, gained for him the respect and confidence of the English negotiators. The prudence and wisdom of Mr. Madison were never more happily displayed than in the appointment of the members of the Commission to adjust our difficulties with Great Britain. There was Adams, learned on all subjects, and fortified by a thorough knowledge of international law ; there was Gallatin, ready in all financial details, and familiar with the commerce of the globe ; and there was CLAY, bearing the reputation of an orator of rare abilities, quick to discover an advantage, and prompt in turning it to the interest of his cause, ever active, ever vigilant, looking alike to the present honor and ulti- mate prosperity of the country. Such an array of talent and ability . could not fail to exert a favorable impression on the diplomatists of the proud and haughty nation before whom the rights of our young Republic were to be vindicated, and her high character maintained. It formed an appropriate sequel to the gallant exploits of our Army and Navy. England learned for the first time, that she was neither the mistress of the ocean, nor the undisputed arbiter of nations ; that we not only possessed a power to check her progress upon the land and upon the ocean, but also a moral and intellectual ability to teach her the great and immutable principles of international justice. It has been truly said that the diplomacy of our country was never more efficiently conducted than during the time our foreign relations were committed to Mr. CLAY. The number of treaties he 78 EULOGY ON negotiated while at the head of the Department of State, was greater than all that had been previously concluded there, from the adoption of the Constitution.* He concluded and signed treaties with Colombia and Central America, with Denmark, Prussia and the Hanseatic League. He also effected a negotiation with Russia for the settlement of the claims of American citizens, and concluded a treaty with Austria, but left the Department before it was signed. His letters to Mr. Gallatin, while the latter was our Minister at London, upon the subject of our trade with the British colonies, and the navigation of the St. Lawrence, have ever been regarded as documents of rare value in the history of our negotiations, and have deservedly placed the writer among the most accomplished diplomatists of the age. Another State paper, which has probably gained him more reputation than all others which have emanated from his pen, is his letter of instructions to the Delegation to the Congress of Panama. But that which will in all time secure to his memory the veneration of every ardent lover of liberty, is his successful appeal to the Emperor of Russia, through our Minister at St. Petersburg, (Mr. Middleton,) to contribute his exertions towards terminating the war which was then raging between Spain and her South American colonies. He was equally successful in obtaining the acquiescence of the same great power in the recognition of the independence of Greece. His strenuous exertions while he was Secretary of State, in connection with the noble efforts previously made by himself and Mr. WEBSTER, upon the proposition of the latter to send a commissioner to Greece, were mainly instrumental in exciting the sympathies of Europe in favor of the struggling people of that ancient home of freedom ; and in securing to them a recognition of those constitutional guaranties for the protection of their rights under a limited monarchy, for which they had long contended. And now, in the musical strains of Whittier : The Grecian as he feeds his flocks In Tempo's vale, on Morea's rocks, Or where the gleam of brieht blue waters Ig caught by Scio's white armed daughters, While dwelling on the dubious strife Which ushered in his nation's life, 8hall mingle in his grateful lay Bozzaris with the name of CLAY. * Lifr of Mr. CLAY by Kppei Sargent HENRYCLAY. 79 It is a remarkable fact in connection with these distinguished diplomatic services of Mr. CLAY, that, at the very time he was devoting his best energies to the advancement of the honor and glory of his country, and to the cause of human liberty in other portions of the globe, he was at home the object of a malignant persecution, which has had no parallel in the history of political or party warfare. We know indeed that the charge which was urged against him, has long since, in the language of his great compeer, who has so soon followed him to the grave, " sunk into the general mass of stale and loathed calumnies ;" that it is now regarded as " the very cast off slough of a polluted and shameless press ;" and being " incapable of further mis- chief, it lies in the sewer, lifeless and despised." And while we thank God that no one would if he could, we thank Him still more, that no one could if he would, " give it dignity or decency, by attempting to elevate it, or to change it from what it is, an object of general disgust and scorn. On the contrary, the contact if he choose to touch it, is more likely to drag him down, down to the place where it lies itself." And we do not on this occasion, when all are united in rendering homage to the virtues of the mighty dead, allude to it with any design of reviving unpleasant recollections of the past, but for the sole purpose of presenting in a clearer and bolder light the unconquerable spirit of the man, who never quailed before the envenomed darts of detraction ; who never bowed his majestic form, nor vailed his lofty plume to the arrogance of power. Mr. CLAY, fellow citizens, was in the highest and broadest accepta- tion of the term, an American Statesman. With the sentiments of the mere local or party politician he had no sympathies in common. His views of every great measure of public policy, were always compre- hensive, always national. He regarded the members of the Confederacy as constituent parts of one great whole ; and he felt, therefore, that whatever contributed to promote the interests of a part, would, in its ultimate effects and consequences, redound to the benefit of the whole. That carping, narrow-minded jealousy, which feels itself called upon to resist every measure of Government apparently designed for the benefit of a particular locality, found no countenance or support from Mr. CLAY. It is the easiest of all things to be a sectional or party a 80 EULOGY ON politician ; it is the most difficult of all, to rise to the dignity and inde- pendence of a statesman. With the former the primary object is victory ; and it is a matter of minor importance what prinoiple may be sacrificed in obtaining it. To the latter victory brings no laurels, but when it heralds the triumph of principle. How few, how very few are willing to withhold from party what is due to their country. How many think of their country only when the triumph of party has been secured. No man struggled more manfully for the success of his party than Mr. CLAY ; but how easily could he surrender it and sacri- fice it, and every thing that appertained to it, and even himself, whenever it became necessary to protect the Union, or to ward off a blow which political assassins were aiming at the Constitution. For such an occasion, come when it might, the great Patriot was always ready, and always equal to the demands of his country. It was then that he knew no friends, no party, but the friends and the party who were arrayed in defence of the Constitution and the Union. It was then, that " Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds," we found him always prepared to act under the influence of those "sublime emotions of a patriotism, which soaring towards heaven, rises far above all mean, low and selfish things, and is absorbed by one soul-transporting thought of the good and the glory of one's country ; that patriotism, which catching its inspirations from the immortal God, and leaving at an immeasurable distance below all lesser, grovelling, personal interests and feelings, animates and prompts to deeds of self- sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and of death itself."* It was then, fellow-citizens, that he " WOULD RATHEE BE RIGHT, THAN TO BE PRESI- DENT." It was then, that official power, however acceptable otherwise to a generous ambition, however gratifying to the pride of an old soldier of a hundred battles, as an evidence of his country's confidence, and as a forerunner of an honorable discharge, lost all its charms, and sank into utter insignificance. For what allurements had power how- ever exalted, for the generous, high-souled patriot, when it could no longer be associated with the honor, the greatness and glory of his country ? "Mr. CLAY'S Speech on the Veto Power. HENRY CLAY. 81 As an Orator, Mr. CLAY has, by common consent, long been regarded as the first on the roll of great names in our country. His eloquence was in perfect unison with his general character. It was bold, ardent, and impassioned ; and when prompted by great excite- ment, gushed like a torrent from the heart. The very fountains of his soul seemed to be broken up, and amid the rush of tumultuous emotions, he was utterly unconscious of the external world. With an easy flow of language that never failed him ; with a voice ever under the most perfect control, and attuned to the sweetest harmony, now rising like the full tones of an organ, " till sound seemed piled upon sound," and now falling into the softest melody, no orator perhaps ever exercised a more commanding and entrancing influence over the feelings of an audience. There was an awful grandeur in his denunciation, before which the coldest and most philosophical opponent stood appalled ; but in his pathetic appeals to the passions, there was a charm which never failed to awaken the tenderest sensibilities of the human heart. His speeches on the subject of the war, are striking examples of these qualities. He was an enemy to all sophis- try. As a logician, he was clear, cogent, and profound. He was laborious in his researches, and rarely engaged in debate upon a great measure of public interest without being fortified by an accumu- lation of facts, which the dispassionate, unprejudiced mind found it difficult to resist. Many of his best efforts have never been pub- lished, and are now irretrievably lost. His speech on the Missouri Compromise, like that of Mr. Pinkney on the same subject, has never been given to the public in a form to enable his countrymen to judge of the effect of that appeal, which originally secured for him the proud appellation of the Great Pacificator. But even if we possessed all that is lost, we should still feel, as we hung over the glowing pages, that there was yet wanting something to complete the charm ; something which the inimitable manner, and the musical, clarion-toned voice of the orator himself could alone supply. We should be reminded, at every step of our progress, of the story of the celebrated /Eschines, while a teacher of Rhetoric at Rhodes. In response to the enthusiastic plaudits of his students upon hearing him read the oration of Demosthenes upon the Crown, the generous rival and antagonist of 82 EULOGY ON that great orator exclaimed : " What would have been your applause could you have heard it from Demosthenes himself?" Those who heard, can surely never forget, the peroration of Mr. CLAY'S speech in the Senate of the United States on the Expunging Resolutions. He flamed in his lofty attitude of defiance like a burning seraph, while every bolt which he hurled amid peals of thunder upon his opponents, seemed "bright With nn immortal's vengeance.'' The sword of his indignation like that " Of Michael from the armory of God, Was given him tempered BO, that neither keen Nor solid, might resist that edge." The character of Mr. CLAY will serve as a pattern of intellectual and moral excellence worthy of the imitation of all who may aspire to public honors the mirror before which they may array themselves for the conflicts of public life. His untarnished honor, his lofty pride, his dauntless courage, his never failing self-reliance, his deep sense of moral obligation, his incorruptible integrity, his " delicate sensibilities exalted into sublime virtues," his magic eloquence and comprehensive wisdom, all so harmoniously blended, contributed to form an Ameri- can, to whom all Americans in all coming time may turn with admiration and gratitude. England in the reign of her good Queen Anne, was wont to point to her Bolingbroke, as the " Beacon of English Statesmen." If great sagacity, the most untiring physical energy, great mental endow- ments, combined with irresistible eloquence, could justify his claims to the enviable title, posterity may never withhold it. But where in his character, as history has portrayed it, do we find those great moral qualities which preeminently distinguished tho public career of our American Orator and Patriot ? qualities which will enable the coun- trymen of the latter to point to his glorious example, as a Pharos to the statesmen of the world. In forming its estimate of human greatness, the mind is ever inclined to resort to comparisons. In fixing the rank or position of a truly great man, in modern times, we naturally recur to the past, in HENRYCLAY. 83 order to determine how far he approximates to those examples which history holds up to our admiration, and which have long since received the favorable verdict of posterity. If a commander with the wreath of laurel upon his brow, stands prominently before the world, we inquire how he will compare with an Alexander, a Hannibal, or a Cassar. If an orator become the object of popular admiration, and give evidence of those great powers of eloquence which ever have been and ever will be regarded as the noblest gifts of Heaven, we associate him with those masters of his art whose names have come down to us from renowned antiquity. So also do the mighty ministers, who, in different ages of the world, have successfully guided the destinies of their country, still stand as the grand criteria of modern statesman- ship ; and our test of present greatness is still a comparison with the past. Apply this test to the illustrious man whose character and services are now the subject of consideration, and we will find, that in no age of the world can we designate an example of a great statesman or orator, with which his own life will not afford us a favorable com- parison ; and there is no extraordinary event or occasion in history which demanded the exercise of great mental and moral endowments, in which we cannot readily imagine that he, had he been cotempo- raneous with the event, and locally affected by its influence, would not have been a prominent actor. He possessed the very qualities to render him conspicuous, and to cause him to be designated among thousands, as the man to determine, to lead, or to guide in the hour of difficulty or danger, or whenever and wherever the great cause of civil liberty might demand the aid of an eloquent and invincible cham- pion. With him, who " wielded at will the fierce democratic of Athens," he would have hurled defiance at the power of Philip and his successors ; and all the gold of Macedonia, Susa and Ecbatana, would never have abated one jot of his loyalty to the Republic. With the great Roman orator, he would have resisted the growing power of the Dictator ; and neither the flattering offers of favor from the usurper himself, nor the persecutions of the arbitrary triumvirate which suc- ceeded, would ever have drawn him off, or driven him from the defence of the liberties of his country. With Tacitus and the younger Pliny, he would have poured out his indignation before the Senate of ^ 84 EULOOYON Rome against the robberies and cruelties committed by the proconsul of Africa. With the former, he would have arraigned before the justice of the world every act of oppression, whether it emanated from a commander at the head of his conquering legions, or resulted from the execution of the mandates of imperial power. If he could have been thrown in the midst of modern revolutions, who does not feel that his eloquence would have animated, his courage have confirmed, his wisdom have guided the devoted apostles of Truth. He would have added strength to the energies of the boldest, and imparted a more glowing zeal to their efforts in the cause of civil and religious freedom ; and all the edicts that ever emanated from the indignation of thrones, would never have arrested him in the prosecution of his purpose ; all the thunders that were ever forged in the furnaces of despotism would never ,have silenced his counter thunders, until " the banner of Liberty was abroad upon the mountains in its first loveliness, and the assaults of tyranny could no longer prevail against it." With John Hampden, he would have resisted step by step every attempt to subvert the rights of the citizen, every encroachment upon the privileges of Parliament ; and with him he would have charged the squadrons of the fiery Rupert. Contemplate him in imagination, amid the storms of the American Revolution not as he really was, an infant Hercules in his cradle, but in the full possession of those intel- lectual and moral energies which in the maturity of manhood he displayed ; and who does not believe that he would have stood in the van with the noblest of the champions of Independence, and have " felt the great arm of Washington lean on him for support." In any age of the world, the great abilities and high personal qualities of our departed patriot, would have rendered him illustrious, and equal to the exigencies of any cause his generous soul would have prompted him to espouse. Although, fellow-citizens, it was the lot of Mr. CLAY never to reach the summit of his ambition; although he was never called by his countrymen to fill the higlfest political station within their gift, what generous and enlightened mind within the whole range of the Republic, can feel that mere official power or authority, however elevated, could add one cubit to the statue of his great fame ? Do we not find in HENRY CLAY. 85 this instance of popular injustice, rather an augmentation than a diminution of the glory that encircles his name ? Did the refusal of the Emperor Tiberius to grant the triumph demanded by Dolabella for his conquests in Africa, detract from, or add to, the glory of his achievements ? The accomplished historian has, with characteristic brevity and energy, given us the answer: Huic negatus honor gloriam intendit* Let not the honors we render this day to the memory of our departed patriot, cease with the ceremonies of this solemn occasion. There are yet others in reserve, which it becomes us, fellow -citizens, in common with our countrymen throughout the Union, to award, in commemoration of his illustrious services. Let us rear aloft the marble monument to his memory. Let us present to our own generation, and to those who are destined soon to fill the places which we now occupy, his beloved and venerable form, as an object of eternal grati- tude and regard. Let us behold him still erect, as we were wont to view him in life, while he stood forth the dauntless champion of his Country's rights, and the watchful guardian of her Constitution. Let us behold him as the plastic hand of an American Republican Artist only can present him to our admiring gaze. Let the fame of the Statesman and the Artist thus become blended in the remem- brance of posterity. Let the name of HIRAM POWERS be associated with that of HENRY CLAY, through all time, like the name of Flaxman with that of Nelson; like the name of Michael Angelo with that of Lorenzo de Medici ; like the name of Lysippus with that of Alexander ; like the name of Phidias with that of his Olympian Jove. And when, hereafter, the shapeless block of marble torn from the classic quarries of Carrara, shall take its place upon the easel, let the artist remember, that no naval hero, however glorious ; no mag- nificent patron of letters and arts, with the commerce of nations tributary to his sway ; no conqueror of the world, with his invincible phalanx at his heels ; no Pagan god with all his Olympian thunders, ever formed a nobler subject for the inspiration of the sculptor's genius, than the peerless Orator, the incorruptible Statesman, the self-sacrificing Patriot of his own mountain land. * Tacitus. 86 EULOGY ON Fellow-citizens, our CALHOUN, our CLAY, and our WEBSTER are no more. Their great spirits are fled, and their once towering forms are now alike the lowly tenants of the tomb. They live no longer to guide us by their counsels, nor to animate us to the performance of good deeds, by the fervor and firmness of their patriotism. Who now shall stand where they have stood ? Who now shall lead where they have led? Who now shall think for our country as they have thought, or speak as they have spoken ? Who now shall rush to the rescue of the Constitution in the hour of peril? Who now shall rise as the bulwarks of the Union when fiery fanatics and pre- sumptuous demagogues shall assail it ? Sad indeed are the emotions of our hearts, as we contemplate the melancholy bereavement which our country has sustained. But let us never, never, fellow-citizens, despair of the Republic. Though our revered patriots are gone, they yet speak to us in " voices from the tomb sweeter than song." They speak to us in their immortal precepts. They live in the light of their ever glorious examples. By those precepts, and by that light, let all who may hereafter be called to the service of the country, be guided and governed. While we know that we can never hope to equal in renown our departed patriots, we may at least emulate their virtues, and follow in the " track of their fiery car." Let us remember, that the more closely and diligently we pursue the high path of glory trod by them, the more faithfully we shall discharge our sacred obli- gations to our country. Let us remember that there are duties which devolve upon the humble as well as the exalted ; and that in every condition it is honorable to serve our native land. And while we contemplate that unapproachable sphere of intellectual glory in which our departed Statesmen and Orators revolved, we should not only feel and act in accordance with the sentiment of Cicero : Tamen est puL- chrum in gecundis tertiisque consislere ;* but we may also derive conso- lation from the noble admonition of Quintilian : Quin animo si hanc cogitationem kominet habuissent, ut nemo se melioremfore eo, qui optimus fuisset, arbitraretur, hi ipsi, qui sunt optimi nonfuissent. Verum ut transeundi spes non fit, magna tanem cst dignitas subsequendi.\ Our * DC Oratore. N. 4. tOrat lost. lib. 12. HENRY CLAY. 87 path along the future is radiant with the light of past glory. Let that glory forever blaze in the ascendant, and no obstacles however great, no dangers however appalling, shall arrest our triumphant progress. Our great Republic is on her march to a higher and still more brilliant destiny. She is preparing to put forth anew her giant energies in the great cause of human liberty and human happiness. "Hope elevates, and joy Brightens her crest." The memory of her mighty dead ; her lofty attitude in the eyes of the world; the resplendent hopes of the future, all animate her to the execution of her high commission and her cry is, ONWARD, ONWARD, FOREVER! V A DISCOURSE UPON THE LIFE, CHARACTER AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER, BY CHRISTIAN ROSELIUS. Delivered in the Rev. Dr. Scott's Church, on the 9th of December, 1852, on the occasion of the Funeral Obsequies in honor of CALHOUN, CLAY and WEBSTEB. We have assembled in this sacred temple, fellow-citizens, to pay our feeble tribute of respect to the memory of DANIEL WEBSTER, and to mingle our sorrow with that of the whole Nation for the bereave- ment occasioned by his death. During a period of nearly half a century, this eminent citizen occupied a prominent position in the councils of the Republic, and was always the watchful, able, fearless and successful champion of free institutions and true constitutional liberty, not only in his own country, but throughout the world. He stamped the impress of his mighty mind on the age in which he lived. He gave an impulse and direction to the astounding and almost miraculous development of the resources of the whole country, whether agricultural, commercial or manufacturing. His patriotism was lofty, ardent and unalloyed by any mean or selfish motives. As a States- man, he was actuated by liberal and comprehensive views, never resorting to mere expedients for the purpose of temporising, or of avoiding official responsibility. As a Jurist, he stood preeminent, not only at the American Bar, but his opinions are quoted as authority, and command respect in the Courts of Westminster, as well as in the Halls of St. Stephen's ; and, as an Orator, he has enriched the lan- guage with undying eloquence. That the death of such a man should produce a profound sensation on the public mind, could not but be expected. It is indeed a public loss, and a cause of public mourning. How strikingly 90 EULOGY ON appropriate is the impressive language which fell from his eloquent lips twenty-six years ago, when pronouncing the eulogy of two of the great founders of the Republic, who died on the fiftieth anniversary of its independence : " He is no more. He is dead. But how little is there of the great and good which can die. To their country they yet live, and live forever. They live in all that perpetuates the remembrance of men on earth ; in the recorded proof of their own great actions, in the offspring of their intellect, in the deep engraven lines of public gratitude, and in the respect and homage of mankind. They live in their example ; and they live emphatically, and will live in the influence which their lives and efforts, their princi- ples and opinions now exercise, and will continue to exercise on the affairs of men, not only in their own country, but throughout the civilized world. A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burning brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning dark- ness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind, so that when it glimmers in its own decay and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit. Bacon died ; but the human understanding, roused by the touch of his miraculous wand to a perception of the true philosophy, and the just mode of inquiring after truth, has kept on its course successfully and gloriously. Newton died ; yet the course of the spheres are still known, and they yet move on by the laws which he discovered, and in the orbits which he saw and described for them in the infinity of space." Yes, fellow citizens, though the tomb has closed over all that was mortal of DANIEL WEBSTER, yet his spirit lives and is among us : it lives in the great deeds performed for the good of his country ; it lives in the lessons of wisdom which his immortal works teach us so eloquently; it lives in the bright example of virtue and patriotism which he has bequeathed to us. May his great deeds be ever held in sacred remembrance ; and may his example be ever kept before the eyes of the American people as an incentive to those noble virtues which his whole life illustrated. DANIEL WEBSTER. 91 The lives, characters and services of such men as WEBSTER, CLAY and CALHOUN, are identified with the history of their country. When the future historian shall give an account of the wonderful pro- gress and magnificent career of the United States, during the period these great men exercised their influence on the destiny of the Nation, they will stand out in bold relief from the historic canvass, and their conduct and actions will be weighed in the scales of even-handed justice. All that can be attempted on this occasion is, to trace a faint and imperfect outline of the principal incidents in the life of the illus- trious dead who is the special subject of this discourse. DANIEL WEBSTER was born on the 18th January, 1782, the last year of the Revolutionary War, at Salisbury, in the State of New Hampshire. His father was a man of great vigor of mind, and of a striking personal appearance. " He belonged to that intrepid border race which lined the whole frontier of the Anglo American colonies ; by turns farmers, huntsmen and soldiers, and passing their lives in one long struggle with the hardships of an infant settlement, on the skirts of a primeval forest." His mother, " like the mothers of so many men of eminence, was a woman of more than ordinary intellect, and pos- sessed a force of character which was felt throughout the humble circle in which she moved. She was proud of her sons, and ambitious that they should excel. Her anticipations went beyond the narrow sphere in which their lot seemed to be cast, and the distinction attained by both, and especially by DANIEL, may be traced in part to her early promptings and judicious guidance." From his earliest youth he manifested great eagerness for learning ; but although education had been encouraged and fostered in the New England States from their first settlement, still the teachers in those days were not always the most competent to impart solid and extensive instruction to their scholars. Young WEBSTER, however, availed himself as far as possible of the limited means of education which were placed within his reach. On account of his father's narrow circumstances, the thought of enjoy- ing the advantages of a collegiate education had never occurred to him, until his father informed him of his intention, at the age of fifteen. " I remember," says Mr. WEBSTER, in an autobiographical memoran- dum of his boyhood, " the very hill which we were ascending, through 92 EULOGYON deep snows in a New England sleigh, when my father made known his purpose to me. I could not speak. How could he, I thought, with so large a family, and in such narrow circumstances, think of incurring so great an expense for me ? A warm glow ran all over me, and I laid my head on my father's shoulder and wept." He entered Dartmouth College in 1797. During his collegiate course, which he completed in 1801, he gave sure indications of his future eminence. On leaving College, he selected law as a profession, a science whose vast and comprehensive range, acute distinctions and logical structure, are remarkably adapted to call forth the latent powers of the mind. Though he had to struggle with difficulties and to overcome obstacles which the straightened means of his parents threw in his way, he did not despair, but met the emergency like a man determined to succeed. To enable himself to complete his own professional education, and to assist his brother through College, he took charge, for a short time, of an academy at Fryeburg, in Maine, and acted as assistant to the Register of Deeds of the County. His biographer justly observes, " that trials, hardships and efforts constitute no small part of the discipline by which a great character is formed." Under all these discouragements and difficulties, Mr. WEBSTER laid the foundation of that eminence in his profession which justly entitled him to the proud distinction of being the greatest Lawyer of his day. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with every branch of jurisprudence. Taking at the very outset, an enlarged and liberal view of the science, his acute and discriminating mind perceived at once that law is not composed of a collection of heterogeneous and incongruous rules, dictated by the whim and caprice of the law-maker ; but that it is a beautiful and harmonious system, devised by the profoundest wisdom and foresight, to regulate the multifarious rights and obligations arising from the complex relations of social life, and founded on the great and immuta- ble principles of right and wrong inscribed on the mind of man by the hand of his Creator. Hence he did not content himself with the perusal of the ordinary black-letter text books which are usually put into the hands of law-students, some of which, when read exclusively, are but too apt to contract, instead of enlarging the mental vision ; but he enriched and invigorated his intellectual faculties by the careful DANIEL WEBSTER. 93 study of the Book of Books, as well as the writings of the ancient and modern classics. Such were the preparations with which Mr. WEB- STER embarked on the voyage of active, busy life. He was admitted to the Bar in May, 1807, and in September following he settled in Portsmouth, where he remained in the practice of the law for nine successive years. His political career commenced in May, 1813, by his taking his seat as a member of Congress from his native State. Since that period, he has, with short intervals, performed an active part on the great theatre of public life. To follow him step by step through those busy, varied, and often spirit-stirring scenes, would far exceed the limits of this address. In whatever point of view Mr. WEBSTER'S character is considered, we discover in it every element of true greatness and goodness. One of his distinguishing characteristics was, that while he was gifted with a towering intellect to direct his thoughts, he possessed a warm and generous heart to give a proper impulse to his feelings. From the very beginning of his political life he was a Statesman, in the true sense of the word ; his conduct was always governed by piinciples, to which he steadily adhered through good and evil report. The politician trims his sail to catch the popular breeze ; but the statesman is frequently compelled to face the storm of popular opinion, at the risk of his own political existence. Mr. WEBSTER was often exposed to this peril, and never shrank from it. As early as 1806, he took part in the discussion of the momentous question which then agitated the Nation, whether our commerce should be actively pro- tected, or whether the suicidal embargo and gun-boat policy should be persisted in. The tide of public opinion at that time ran strong in favor of the latter, but that did not deter him from giving utterance to these statesman-like views : " Nothing is plainer than this : if we will have commerce, we must protect it. This country is commercial as well as agricultural. Indissoluble bonds connect him who ploughs the land with him who ploughs the sea. Nature has placed us in a situation favorable to commercial pursuits, and no government can alter the destination. Habits formed by two centuries, are not to be changed. An immense portion of our property is on the waves. Sixty 94 E U I, O G Y O N or eighty thousand of our most useful citizens are there, and are entitled to such protection from the Government as their case requires." Such was the state of public opposition, that the argument of the youthful patriot remained unheeded, until our commerce had been almost entirely swept from the ocean. The policy of the Government was not changed until eight years afterwards. He reverted to the subject in an oration delivered in 1812; and in 1814, he again made a powerful appeal for the protection of our commerce, in one of his first speeches delivered in Congress. " Unclinch," he exclaims, " the iron grasp of your embargo. Take measures for that end before another sun sets upon you. With all the war of the enemy on your commerce, if you would cease to make war upon it yourselves, you would still have some commerce." The policy thus so eloquently and perseveringly advocated by Mr. WEBSTER, was at last adopted, and its results soon verified his predictions. In August, 1816, Mr. WEBSTER removed to Boston, retired from active political life, and devoted himself, during a period of six years, exclusively to the duties of his profession. It was at this time that his reputation as a Lawyer was fixed. He took his position in the front rank of the great Jurists who then adorned the Boston Bar. At this period, too, he made some of those great forensic efforts, as a Constitu- tional Lawyer, which placed him beyond all competition in that highest branch of jurisprudence. He argued the celebrated Dartmouth College case before the Supreme Court of the United States, on the 10th of March, 1818. It involved the question, whether the Legis- lature of New Hampshire possessed the constitutional power to alter the charter of Dartmouth College without the consent of the corpora- tion ? Mr. Ticknor describes this great effort as follows : " He opened his cause, as he always did, with perfect simplicity, in the general statement of its facts, and then went on to unfold the topics of his argument in a lucid order, which made each position sustain every other. The logic and the law were rendered irresistible ; but as he advanced, his heart warmed to the subject and the occasion. Thoughts and feelings that had grown old with his best affection, rose unbidden to his lips. He remembered that the institution he was defending, DANIEL WEBSTER. 95 was the one where his own youth had been nurtured ; and the moral tenderness and beauty this gave to the grandeur of his thoughts, the sort of religious sensibility it imparted to his urgent appeals and demands for the stern fulfilment of what law and justice required, wrought up the whole audience to an extraordinary state of excitement. Many betrayed strong agitation ; many were dissolved in tears. When he ceased to speak, there was a perceptible interval before any one was willing to break the silence ; and when that vast crowd separated, not one person of the whole number doubted, that the man who had that day so moved, astonished and controlled them, had vindicated for himself a place at the side of the first Jurists of the country." The great constitutional principles contended for by Mr. WEBSTER, in support of the rights of his Alma Mater, were fully recognized by the Court, and the act of the Legislature of the State of New Hampshire, attempting to alter the charter of Dartmouth College, was declared null and void. We may form some conception of the merits of the argument in the Dartmouth College case from the fact related by the late Mr. Justice Story, that the Supreme Court listened to Mr. WEB- STER for the first hour with perfect astonishment, for the second hour with perfect delight, and for the third hour with perfect conviction. This was the first case of any importance since the organization of the Federal Judiciary, in which the Supreme Court was called upon to exercise the high attribute with which the Constitution has invested it, of deciding questions relative to the powers of sovereign States, which in other countries can only be settled by the arbitraments of the sword. The extraordinary jurisdiction possessed by this august tribunal, is one of the most admirable features in the complicated machinery of Federal and State governments. The wisdom, prudence and firmness with which justice has been administered in that Court, have in no small degree contributed to the stability of our glorious institutions ; and Mr. WEBSTER'S name will be forever associated with those of Mar- shall, Story, Taney, and other great Judges of the modern Areopagus, who have lulled popular excitements so often produced by the con- flicting rights and claims of States, by the still small voice of reason. Whatever may be the effect of professional training on the qualifications of a Statesman, it is evident that in this country there is a great class 96 EULOGYON of questions, and those of the highest importance, which belong alike to the Senate and the Court. Mr. WEBSTER presents a forcible illus- tration of the correctness of this observation. Nor did his forensic duties prevent him from cultivating and exercising those transcendant gifts of eloquence with which Nature had so richly endowed him. On the 22d of December, 1820, he delivered an oration of surpassing pathos and beauty, in commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. This splendid production is, among many other things, remarkable for a prediction which was realized during the orator's lifetime. Speaking of the energy, the enterprise and success of the natives of New England, he says : " It may be safely asserted, that there are now more than a million of people, descendants of New England ancestry, living free and happy in regions, which hardly sixty years ago, were tracts of unpenetrated forest. Nor do rivers, mountains or seas resist the progress of industry and enterprise. Ere long the sons of the Pilgrims will be on the shores of the Pacific." He now stood at the head of the American Bar, almost without a rival, reaping the golden harvest of a large and profitable practice, and having before him the certain prospect of an independent fortune. The worldly wise will no doubt wonder that he should have been induced to abandon a position so advantageous and enviable. But his fellow-citizens considered that they were entitled to his services on a more enlarged sphere of action. With a patriotic devotion to his country, and a disinterestedness by which his whole life has been characterised, he responded to the call. In 1822 he returned to political life, by being elected a member of Congress from the city of Boston. He took his seat in December, 1823. At that time the sympathies of the American people had been strongly enlisted in behalf of regenerated and heroic Greece struggling for freedom. On the 19th of January, 1824, ho pronounced his splendid and triumphant vindication of the cause of freedom and the rights of humanity, against the base and insidious machinations of that conspiracy or alliance of despots, which was blasphemously called Holy. The speech is replete with the noblest sentiments, and breathes the spirit of the loftiest patriotism in every line. Instead of availing DANIEL WEBSTER. 97 himself of those captivating classical allusions, which lay in such pro- fusion in his way, he made but a single reference to Greece, as the mistress of the world in letter^ and arts. He treated, in a Statesman- like manner, what he justly called the great question of the age, the question between absolute and regulated governments, and the duty of the United States on fitting occasions to let their voice be heard on this question. In the month of June, 1827, Mr. WEBSTER was elected to the Senate of the United States. As a Senator he took a leading part in the discussion of the various questions and measures which came up before that body. But it was not before the beginning of 1830, that he was called upon to buckle on his armor in the defence of the Con- stitution and the Union, in a series of efforts of transcendant ability and eloquence, for which the people, without distinction of party, bestowed on him the glorious appellation of the " Defender of the Constitution." The startling doctrine of nullification, secession and disunion, was first openly avowed and advocated in the Senate of the United States by Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, in the debate on the resolution intro- duced by Mr. Foot of Connecticut, on the subject of the sale of the public lands ; and it is difficult to understand how the discussion to which it gave rise, could embrace a question involving the very existence of the Government. Such, however, was the fact. Twenty years have rolled by since the nullification agitation shook the Union to its centre, and we can scarcely realize at this distance of time the imminence of the impending danger. That Mr. WEBSTER was in a great measure instrumental, under Providence, in saving the Republic, and in averting the dreadful calamities by which it was threatened, no one will deny. His powerful appeal to the sober reason and calm judgment of the American people, hushed the angry elements which were distracting the public mind. The orthodox political faith, which he enforced with such a sincerity of conviction and overwhelming power of argument, was first listened to, and finally embraced by many whose minds had been bewildered by the heresy of nullification. 98 EULOOYON There is no exaggeration in the assertion that Mr. WEBSTER'S reply to Hayne, is one of the most powerful speeches to be found in any language ; its sublime eloquence and irresistible logic sweep along with a grandeur and magnificence unsurpassed by any orator either of ancient or modern times. " Seldom, if ever," observes Mr. March, his able biographer, "has a speaker in this or any other country had more powerful incentives to exertion. A subject, the determination of which involved the most important interests, and even duration of the Republic ; competitors unequalled in reputation, ability or position ; a name to make still more glorious, or lose forever ; and an audience comprising not only persons of this country most eminent in intellectual greatness, but representatives of other nations, where the art of eloquence had flourished for ages. All the soldier seeks in opportunity, was here. Mr. WEBSTER perceived, and felt equal to the destinies of the moment. The very greatness of the hazard "exhilerated him. His spirits rose with the occasion. He awaited the time of onset with a stern and impatient joy. He felt like the war-horse of the Scriptures, who ' paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength ; who goeth on to meet the armed men ; who saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha ! and who smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.' *A confidence in his own resources, springing from no vain estimate of his power, but the legitimate offspring of previous severe mental discipline, sustained and excited him. He had gauged his opponents, his subject, and himself" No analysis of this great oratorical effort can possibly convey to the mind any conception of its close and irresistible logic, its withering sarcasm, the beauty of its imagery, and the splendor of its diction. Many of its passages have been selected as brilliant gems of oratory, and inserted in every treatise on elocution. His reply to Mr. Hayne's bitter attack on Massachusetts, is so full of words that burn, and thoughts that breathe, that although familiar to every one, it may well be repeated here : " Mr. President," said he, " I shall enter on no enconium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. Behold her and judge for yourselves. There is her history ; the world knows it by heart. The past at least DANIEL WEBSTER. 99 is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bun- ker Hill ; and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, fallen in the great struggle of Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from New England to Georgia ; and there they will lie forever. And, Sir, where American liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood, and full of its original spirit. It discord and disunion shall wound it ; if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at it and tear it; if folly and madness, if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraints, shall succeed in separating it from the Union, by which alone its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked ; it will stretch forth its arm, with whatever of vigor it may still retain, over the friends who gather around it ; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of its origin." The Orator throws his whole soul into the magnificent peroration of this great speech : " While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying pros- pects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise ! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind ! When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in Heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Repub- lic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, " What is all tlds worth ?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, " Liberty first, and Union afterwards ;" but every where spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind in the whole heavens, that other senti- m 100 EULOGY ON ment, dear to every true American heart, Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable !" While Secretary of State, under Presidents Harrison and Tyler, he succeeded in settling the difficult and vexed question of the North Eastern Boundary, which had been the subject of negotiation between the United States and England, almost ever since the Peace of 1783. The attitude which the two nations had assumed towards each other in relation to the disputed territory, was of the most alarming charac- ter. Adverse and hostile forces had actually assembled on the north- eastern boundary; and if prompt and efficient measures had not been devised by Mr. WEBSTER, to avoid an open collision between the troops, without compromiting the honor of either country, a war with England would have been inevitable. His diplomatic intercourse with foreign governments was frank, open and honorable: he considered the dissimulation, stratagems and trickery of hackneyed diplomatists, as unworthy a great people. No Statesman was ever more successful in carrying on our foreign relations than Mr. WEBSTEH. With the commencement of President Folk's administration, Mr. WEBSTER returned to the Senate of the United States. Though unconnected with the Executive branch of the Government, the fact is well established, that he exercised a controlling influence with the British Ministry in the settlement of the Oregon question in 1846. The acquisition of California gave rise, as we all remember, to the discussion of the Slavery question, which agitated the public mind to such an alarming extent, that serious apprehensions were entertained that it might eventually lead to a dissolution of the Union. At this crisis, the Great Pacificator, HENRY CLAY, (whose death, alas! we also mourn,) stepped forward, and introduced those Compromise measures, which it is to be hoped, have removed that exasperating topic of dissension and ill feeling forever. The happy effects which have flowed from that wise and seasonable legislation, have silenced all opposition to it except by a set of deluded fanatics, who are addressed in vain by the voice of reason, and who are ready to sacri- fice all the blessings we enjoy individually and as a nation, to gratify their frantic rage, and execute their reckless determination to do mischief. But when the Compromise was first proposed, it met with DANIEL WEBSTER. 101 the most violent opposition, both from the North and the South ; an opposition which could not have been successfully resisted by the united and commanding ability and influence of Mr. CLAY, Mr. Cass, and the other patriotic Statesmen of both parties, who acted with them, if Mr. WEBSTER had not come to the rescue. In that hour of peril, when the stoutest hearts felt apprehensions for the safety of the Republic, he infused new confidence, and inspired fresh hopes into the public mind, by his great speech for the Constitution and the Union, pronounced in the Senate of the United States, on the 7th of March, 1850. This speech produced a most powerful effect, not only in the Halls of Congress, but throughout the whole country. It was the last time the great " Defender of the Constitution" had to mount its ramparts to repulse the assaults of its enemies. And he fought this last battle in defence of the Constitution of the United States, the great charter of political and social rights, most nobly and triumphantly. Let us listen for a moment to the fervent and patriotic exhortation with which the Orator concludes : "And now, Mr. President, instead of speaking of the possibility or utility of secession ; instead of dwelling on those caverns of dark- ness ; instead of groping with those ideas so full of all that is horrid and horrible, let us come out into the light of day ; let us enjoy the fresh air of liberty and union ; let us cherish those hopes which belong to us ; let us devote ourselves to those great objects that are fit for our consideration and our action; let us raise our conceptions to the magnitude and importance of the duties that devolve upon us ; let our comprehension be as broad as the country for which we act, our inspiration as high as its certain destiny; let us not be pigmies in a case that calls for men. Never did there devolve on any generation of men higher trusts than now devolve on us, for the preservation of this Constitution, and the harmony and peace of all who are destined to live under it. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the people of all the States to this Constitution for ages to come. We have a great popular Constitutional Government, guarded by law and by judicature, and defended by the affections of the whole people. No monarchical throne presses these States together; no 102 EULOGY ON iron chain of military power encircles them; they live and stand under a Government popular in its form, representative in its character, founded upon principles of equality, and so constructed, we hope, as to last forever. In all its history it has been beneficent ; it has trodden down no man's liberty ; it has crushed no State. Its daily respiration is liberty and patriotism. Its yet youthful veins are full of enterprise, courage, and honorable love of glory and renown. Large before, the country has now, by recent events, become vastly larger. This Repub- lic now extends, with a vast breadth, across the whole continent. The two great seas of the world wash the one and the other shore. We realise, on a mighty scale, the description of the ornamental border of the buckler of Achilles : ' Now, the broad shield complete, the artist crowned With his last hand, and poured the ocean round ; In living silver seemed the wares to roll, And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole."' Shortly after this speech had been delivered, the venerable Hero of Buena Vista died, and 'our present excellent Chief Magistrate was called upon to fill the Executive Chair. Mr. WEBSTER was appointed Secretary of Slate. It is needless to dwell on the ability with which he discharged the functions of that high trust, and how far he con- tributed to the success of President Fillmore's administration, for it is fresh in our memories. When we consider Mr. WEBSTER'S character in the domestic and social relations of life, it equally inspires us with respect and admira- tion. Those tender feelings and sacred affections which endear and hallow the family circle, gushed profusely from his heart during a long life; nor was their current interrupted by the frost of age, or the distraction and turmoil of public cares. In the dedication of his works, as late as 1851, he gives expression to those feelings in tfie most touching manner. As a friend he was warm and sincere, and as an enemy he was placable and forgiving. He lost the nomination for the Presidency last June, because he had felt it his duty to oppose the appointment of a prominent politician to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, occasioned by the death of Mr. Justice Woodbury ; still he spoke of the gentleman by whom DANIEL WEBSTER. 103 his nomination had been defeated, with kindness and respect. He was full of the milk of human kindness. Wherever he discovered worth and talent, he was ready to do them homage and give them encourage- ment. His personal appearance, especially when he rose to address the Senate, was remarkably imposing. He was a perfect personification of Milton's conception of a great Statesman and Orator : ********* \Vith grave Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed A pillar of State ; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat, and public care. ********* Sage he stood With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear The weight of mightiest commonwealths ; his look Drew audience and attention still as night, On summer's noontide air." His is not the impetuous, vehement, stormy eloquence of CLAY, nor the fervid, didatic, powerful ratiocination of CALHOUN. His oratory is not like the mountain torrent, dashing on in its fury over rocks and cataracts ; but rather like a mighty river, flowing on majestically in its deep channel, carrying every obstacle before it without any apparent struggle. All his oratorical efforts are distinguished by a compre- hensive, deep and accurate analysis of principles, and a close, irresistible logic. Though gifted with a rich fancy and an exuberant imagination, yet he kept these potent auxiliaries of eloquence always in strict subordination to his analitical and logical powers, and only called in their assistance to illustrate and give effect to his argument. A mere flight of the imagination, for the purpose of embellishment alone, is not to be found in the whole range of Mr. WEBSTER'S speeches. He disdains the glare and tinsel of the rhetorician; but the wonderful charm of his oratory consists in the force, originality and correctness of his thoughts. He carefully avoids the fatal mistake of confounding pomposity of diction with genuine eloquence. His narration is simple, unaffected and perspicuous. He rises with the importance and dignity of the theme he is discussing. When expatiating on, and developing the great principles of our own peculiar American Liberty, both his heart and his genius seem to luxuriate in their proper element. More quotations from his speeches have been made in this discourse than 104 EULOGY ON DANIEL WEBSTER. may be considered admissable, but the object was to exhibit the leading feature of his character an ardent and sincere attachment to the Con- stitution and the Union. He was deeply impressed with the truth, that " The greatest glory of a free-born people, Is to transmit that freedom to their children." To assert that Mr. WEBSTER had no faults, would be claiming for him an exemption from the frailty of human nature. He lived and died in the faith and hopes of a Christian. Indeed his whole life, when compared with the great statesmen and orators of antiquity, is a glorious exemplification of the difference which exists between Pagan- ism and Christianity between stoicism and Christian morality. He has departed full of years and honor, and his memory is em- balmed in the grateful recollection of his countrymen. The name of DANIEL WEBSTER will become a household word, like those of Wash- ington, Franklin, and their great compeers ; it will awaken thrilling associations of patriotism and liberty ; and his bright example will excite a noble emulation to preserve and transmit, unimpaired, that glorious Union, to which he was so devotedly attached, from genera- tion to generation, to the last syllable of rec6rded time. That this memorial of the Ceremony of the 9th December, 1852, and its antocondente, may be considered an accurate record, worthy of preservation by the citizens who took part in them, will be a sufficient compensation for the labors of the General and Sub-Committees. H. R. W. HILL, President. A.HARRIS, J. LABATUT, J. L. LUGUNBUHL, J. M. BURKE, J. O. NIXON, L. II PLACE, V. IIEERMANN, L. BURTIIE, M. BLACIIE, A. DERBES, J W. DOLIIONDE, J.A. WATKINS, 8. W. PH1LBRICK, ISAAC BRIDGE, JNO. R. GRIMES, A. M. HOLBROOK ) W. L GUSHING, W.MONAGHAN, THUS. A. ADAMS, JOS. GENOIS, JNO. L LEWIS, MANUEL GARCIA, M. M. COIIEN, C. MAURIAN, W. A. ELMORE, T. J. DURANT. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. OlSCHAKGE 23K79 ~~ Form L9-50m-4 > '61(B8994s4)444 1 1C 3 1158 00489 1734 001 160401 4 E 338