country. In this year, three great lights of our age and our country have gone out. But a few months since, the voice of lamentation was heard from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore that Henry Clay was no more. The sounds of sorrow had scarcely died in our ears, when inexorable Death, striking with remorseless hand at the cottage of the peasant and the palace of the great-Death, as if to send terror to our souls by showing us that the greatest in place and in genius are but men-has destroyed all that was mortal of Daniel Webster.

And even while we were celebrating his obsequies, the sagacious statesman, the wise counsellor, the pure and upright man, John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania-the man who more happily combined the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in re than any public man I ever met with-the model of that best of all characters, a Christian gentleman, always loving "whatsoever things are true, honest, just, lovely, and of good report,"-John Sergeant is called to that beatific vision reserved for "the pure in heart."

Let it be our pleasure, as it will be our duty, to teach those who come after us to imitate the private virtues, remember the public services, and cherish the reputation of these illustrious men. And while we do this, let us cherish, with grateful remembrance and honest pride, the thought that these great men were not only lovers of liberty, friends of republican institutions, and patriots devoted to the service of their country, but that they were, with sincere conviction, believers in the Christian religion. Without this praise, the Corinthian column of their characters would be deprived at once of the chief ornament of its capital and the solidity of its base.

I fervently hope the lessons we have had of the certainty of death will not be lost upon us. May they make us less fond of the pleasures of this world, so rapidly passing away! May they cause those who are in high places of trust and honor to remember, now in the days of health, manhood, and prosperity, that

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp

of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth, e'er gave

Await alike the inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave!"

XIII.

MR. TAYLOR, of Ohio, said:

Mr. SPEAKER: In the Congress of 1799, when the announcement of the death of General Washington was made in this body, appropriate resolutions were passed to express the high appreciation of the representatives of the people of the pre-eminent public services of the Father of his Country, and profound grief for their loss. His death was considered a great national calamity; and, in the beautiful and appropriate language of General Henry Lee, who prepared the resolutions introduced by John Marshall, he was proclaimed as having been "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." The whole nation cordially responded to that sentiment, and from that day to this, the high eulogium has been adopted by the people of the United States of America, as the just and expressive tribute to the greatest man, take him all in all, that our country had then, or has since, produced. Time rolled on, and the sentiment of his own country has, of late years, become the intelligent opinion of the whole world. And in proof of this I might cite, among others, the deliberately-recorded opinions of the late premier Guizot, of France, and the great though eccentric writer and statesman, Brougham, of England, men of vast celebrity.

Our country, then in its infancy, has grown up, in little more than half a century, to be the first republic in the world, having increased from three or four millions to nearly twenty-five millions of inhabitants, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. During the present year the nation has been called upon to mourn the death of two of her distinguished citizens,-two men born since the establishment of our independence, cradled in the Revolution, and brought up, as it were, at the feet of the fathers of the republic, whose long public career has attracted to them and all that concerned them, more than to any others, the admiration, the gratitude, and the hope of the whole people. These men-Henry Clay and Daniel Webster-have both been gathered to their fathers during

the present year. When, during our last session, the offi-. cial announcement was made in this House of the death of Henry Clay, I listened with heartfelt sympathy to the eloquent and beautiful eulogies then pronounced upon his character, and felt in the fulness of my heart the truest grief. As one of the representatives of the great and prosperous State of Ohio on this floor, I desired then to mingle my humble voice with those who eagerly sought to honor his memory. But no opportunity was afforded me, and I could only join with meekness of spirit and a bowed mind in the appropriate funeral honors which were rendered to the illustrious dead by Congress. And I only now desire to say, that no State in this Union, not even his own beloved Kentucky, more deeply felt the great loss which, in the death of Mr. Clay, the nation had sustained, than the State of Ohio; and the public meetings of her citizens, without distinction of party, in the city in which I reside, and many other parts of the State, expressed, in appropriate and feeling terms, their high estimate of his great public services, and their profound grief for his death.

And now, sir, since the adjournment of Congress, at its last session, he who co-operated with Mr. Clay in the legislative and executive departments, at various times for nearly forty years, and to whom, with his great compatriot, more than to any others, the people looked for counsel, and for security and peace,-he, too, has paid the debt of nature, and will never more be seen among men. The formal announcement in this body of the death of Daniel Webster has elicited just and eloquent tributes to his memory, and brings freshly to our view the beautiful traits of his private character, and his great and longcontinued public services in the Senate and in one of the executive departments of the Government. In all that is said in commendation of the private virtues and pre-eminent public services of Daniel Webster I heartily concur; and I wish, sir, that I could find words sufficiently strong and appropriate to express what, in my judgment, were the great claims of these two eminent men upon the admiration and upon the gratitude of their countrymen. They were in many respects exemplars for the young men of

our country. Born (without any of the advantages conferred sometimes by wealth and position) in humble life; struggling with adversities in their earlier years, triumphing over all obstacles by their native strength of intellect, by their genius and by their persevering industry and great energy, they placed themselves in the very first rank of American statesmen, and for more than forty years were the great leaders of the American mind, and among the brightest guardians of their common country.

Sir, it was my good fortune to have known, for many years, both these great patriots, and to have enjoyed their friendship; and I think I but express the general sentiment of the intelligent people of this great country when I say that our country is, in a very large degree, indebted to them for its present unexampled prosperity, for its peace and domestic happiness, and for its acknowledged power and high renown all over the world. In my judg ment, the words of the national legislature, so beautifully and aptly embodying the true character of the Father of his Country, were not more appropriately uttered then in reference to him than they might be applied now, so far as relates to the civil affairs and action of our Government within the last forty years, to Henry Clay and Daniel Webster; and it may be properly said of them, that, within that time, they have been, emphatically, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of their countrymen." But, sir, the great men of a country must die; and, if the great men of a country are pre-eminently good men, their loss is the more severely felt. Nothing human is perfect; and I am far from believing, much less from asserting, that the eminent men of whom I have spoken were without defects of character. But I believe their virtues so far outweighed the imperfections of their nature, that to dwell upon such defects, on this occasion, would be as unprofitable and futile as to object to the light, and heat, and blessings of the glorious sun, guided by the Omnipotent hand, because an occasional shadow or spot may be seen on his disk. These guardians of our country have passed away, but their works and good examples are left for our guidance, and are part of the lasting and valued possessions of this nation. And, Mr. Speaker,

"When the bright guardians of a country die,
The grateful tear in tenderness will start;
And the keen anguish of a reddening eye
Disclose the deep affliction of the heart."

XIV.

EDWARD EVERETT'S ADDRESS ON THE DEATH OF MR. WEBSTER, DELIVERED IN BOSTON.

Mr. MAYOR AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: I never rose to address an assembly when I was so little fit, body or mind, to perform the duty; and I never felt so keenly how inadequate are words to express such an emotion as manifestly pervades this meeting, in common with the whole country. There is but one voice that ever fell upon my ear which could do justice to such an occasion. That voice, alas! we shall hear no more forever. No more at the bar will it unfold the deepest mysteries of the law; no more will it speak conviction to admiring Senates; no more in this hall, the chosen theatre of his intellectual dominion, will it lift the soul as with the swell of the pealing organ, or stir the blood with the tones of a clarion, in the inmost chambers of the heart.

We are assembled, fellow-citizens, to pour out the fulness of our feelings; not in vain attempt to do honor to the great man who is taken from us; most assuredly, not with the presumptuous hope on any part to magnify his name and his praise. They are spread throughout the land. From East to West, and from North to South, (which he knew, as he told you, only that he might embrace them in the arms of loving patriotism,) a voice of lamentation has already gone forth, such as has not echoed throughout the land since the death of him who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

You have listened, fellow-citizens, to the resolutions. which have been submitted to you by Colonel Heard. I