EULOGY.

By authority of a joint resolution, the Select Committee on the Death of President Lincoln, invited the Hon. Henry Champion Deming, of Hartford, Member of Congress from the First District, to deliver before the General Assembly a eulogy upon the life, character and services of the lamented President.

The invitation was accepted by the honorable gentleman, and the eulogy was delivered at Allyn Hall, in the city of Hartford, on the evening of June 8th, 1865.

The Hall was festooned with flags and mourning, and music was furnished by Colt's Band.

The meeting was called to order by Hon. H. Lynde Harrison, Senator from the Sixth District, who announced the following officers:

PRESIDENT.

HIS EXCELLENCY, WM. A. BUCKINGHAM.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

(On the part of the Senate.)

Hon. ROGER AVERILL, President, Hon. SAMUEL ROCKWELL,

On taking the chair, Governor Buckingham was loudly applauded. He said:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

It is difficult for us to review the past and contemplate the rapid and marvelous changes which have crowded the events of generations into a few passing months, without inquiring whether it all has not been a dream; and yet our minds and hands have been so much occupied, and our hearts so deeply affected by the scenes through which we have passed, that our judgment and consciousness decide the question, and assure us that we have not been moved by visions and dreams, but by realities.

The rebellion has been a reality. The power of the government has not been imaginary. ·The organization of armies, their conflict upon a thousand battle-fields, the overthrow of our national enemies, the suppression of the rebellion, and the emancipation of the enslaved, are all real events, which have surprised ourselves and astonished the civilized world. But events alone do not make history. It is read in the character and lives of those who have been active participators in the scenes which have transpired. There can be no correct history of the Israelites, of their oppression and deliverence, of their passage through the sea and through the wilderness, without the lives of

Moses and Joshua. There can be no true history of the twenty-five years of European war, commencing with the French revolution and ending with the battle of Waterloo, without the life of Napoleon. Nor can there be a correct history of this nation, as it has passed through this great struggle for existence, without the life of Abraham Lincoln, and without connecting his name with that immortal proclamation which gave freedom and manhood to four millions of bondmen.

The General Assembly has properly invited a gentleman of distinguished ability, who was intimately acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, to present to us this evening, and to weave into our nation's history, the life and character of our late President, so that all may see those qualities of heart and mind by which he endeared himself to the people, and which stamped his official acts with a purity and patriotism which command universal respect and admiration. one can draw his character in lines of more distinctness and accuracy, or present it in more attractive. and life-like colors, or show more clearly the precise influence which he exerted over public affairs during this period of danger, than the orator of the evening, whom I now introduce-the Hon. Henry C. Deming.

No