of their house, and the circumstances attending it, excite strong suspicions of unfair and fraudulent practices; if, in the hour of their utmost peril, no promises of safety could draw from the defendants any confessions affecting themselves or others,—it would be for the jury to say whether they could pronounce them guilty.

OBITUARY ADDRESSES.

I.

SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

Tuesday, December 14, 1852.

AFTER various topics of the Message of the President had been referred to the appropriate committees, Mr. DAVIS rose, and addressed the Senate as follows:

Mr. PRESIDENT: I rise to bring to the notice of the Senate an event which has touched the sensibilities and awakened sympathies in all parts of the country, an event which has appropriately found a place in the message of the President, and ought not to be passed in silence by the Senate. Sir, we have, within a short space, mourned the death of a succession of men illustrious by their services, their talents, and worth. Not only have seats in this Chamber, in the other House, and upon the bench of tho Court, been vacated, but death has entered the Executive Mansion and claimed that beloved patriot who filled the Chair of State.

The portals of the tomb had scarcely closed upon the remains of a great and gifted member of this House, before they are again opened to receive another marked man of our day-one who stood out with a singular prominence before his countrymen, challenging, by his extraordinary intellectual power, the admiration of his fellow-men.

DANIEL WEBSTER, (a name familiar in the remotest cabin upon the frontier,) after mixing actively with the councils

of his country for forty years, and having reached the limits of life assigned to mortals, has descended to the mansions of the dead, and the damp earth now rests upon his manly form.

That magic voice, which was wont to fill this place with admiring listeners, is hushed in eternal silence. The multitude will no longer bend in breathless attention from the galleries to catch his words, and to watch the speaking eloquence of his countenance, animated by the fervor of his mind; nor will the Senate again be instructed by the outpourings of his profound intellect, matured by long experience, and enriched by copious streams from the fountains of knowledge. The thread of life is cut; the immortal is separated from the mortal; and the products of a great and cultivated mind are all that remain to us of the jurist and legislator.

Few men have attracted so large a share of public attention, or maintained for so long a period an equal degree of mental distinction. In this and the other House there were rivals for fame, and he grappled in debate with the master-minds of the day, and achieved in such manly conflict the imperishable renown connected with his name.

Upon most of the questions which have been agitated in Congress during his period of service, his voice was heard. Few orators have equalled him in a masterly power of condensation, or in that clear logical arrangement of proofs and arguments which secures the attention of the hearer, and holds it with unabated interest.

These speeches have been preserved, and many of them will be read as forensic models, and will command admiration for their great display of intellectual power and extensive research. This is not a suitable occasion to discuss the merits of political productions, or to compare them with the effusions of great contemporaneous minds, or to speak of the principles advocated. All this belongs to the future, and history will assign each great name the measure of its enduring fame.

Mr. WEBSTER was conspicuous not only among the most illustrious men in the halls of legislation, but his fame shone with undiminished lustre in the judicial tribunals as an advocate, where he participated in many of the most

important discussions. On the bench were Marshall, Story, and their brethren-men of patient research and comprehensive scope of intellect-who have left behind them, in our judicial annals, proofs of greatness which will secure profound veneration and respect for their names. At the bar stood Pinckney, Wirt, Emmett, and many others who adorned and gave exalted character to the profession. Amid these luminaries of the bar he discussed many of the great questions raised in giving construction to organic law; and no one shone with more intense brightness, or brought into the conflict of mind more learning, higher proofs of severe mental discipline, or more copious illustration.

Among such men, and in such honorable combat, the foundations of that critical knowledge of constitutional law, which afterward became a prominent feature of his character, and entered largely into his opinions as a legislator, were laid.

The arguments made at this forum displayed a careful research into the history of the formation of the Federal Union, and an acute analysis of the fundamental provisions of the Constitution.

Probably no man has penetrated deeper into the principles, or taken a more comprehensive and complete view of the Union of the States, than that great man, ChiefJustice Marshall. No question was so subtle as to elude his grasp, or so complex as to defy his penetration. Even the great and the learned esteemed it no condescension to listen to the teachings of his voice; and no one profited more by his wisdom, or more venerated his character, than Mr. Webster.

To stand among such men with marked distinction, as did Mr. Webster, is an association which might satisfy any ambition, whatever might be its aspirations. But there, among those illustrious men, who have finished their labors and gone to their final homes, he made his mark strong and deep, which will be seen and traced by posterity.

But I need not dwell on that which is familiar to all readers who feel an interest in such topics; nor need I notice the details of his private life-since hundreds of pens have been employed in revealing all the facts, and in

describing, in the most vivid manner, all the scenes which have been deemed attractive; nor need I reiterate the fervent language of eulogy which has been poured out in all quarters from the press, the pulpit, the bar, legislative bodies, and public assemblies-since his own productions constitute his best eulogy.

I could not, if I were to attempt it, add any thing to the strength or beauty of the manifold evidences which have been exhibited of the length, the breadth and height of his fame; nor is there any occasion for such proofs in the Senate the place where his face was familiar, where many of his greatest efforts were made, and where his intellectual powers were appreciated. Here he was seen and heard, and nowhere else will his claim to great distinction be more cheerfully admitted.

But the places which have known him will know him no more! His form will never rise here again; his voice will not be heard, nor his expressive countenance seen. He is dead. In his last moments he was surrounded by his family and friends at his own home; and, while consoled by their presence, his spirit took its flight to other regions. All that remained has been committed to its kindred earth. Divine Providence gives us illustrious men, but they, like others, when their mission is ended, yield to the inexorable law of our being. He who gives also takes away, but never forsakes his faithful children.

The places of those possessing uncommon gifts are vacated, the sod rests upon the once manly form, now as cold and lifeless as itself, and the living are filled with gloom and desolation. But the world rolls on; Nature loses none of its charms; the sun rises with undiminished splendor; the grass loses none of its freshness; nor do the flowers cease to fill the air with fragrance. Nature, untouched by human woe, proclaims the immutable law of Providence, that decay follows growth, and that He who takes away never fails to give.

Sir, I propose the following resolutions, believing that they will meet the cordial approbation of the Senate:

Resolved, That the Senate has received with profound sensibility the annunciation from the President of the death