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of God from our sight, we can hardly repress the exclamation which was addressed to the departing prophet of old: "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof !"

2. I hazard nothing, sir, in saying, that the roll of our chief magistrates, since 1789, illustrious as it is, presents the name of no man who has enjoyed a higher reputation with his contemporaries, or who will enjoy a higher reputation with posterity, for some of the best and noblest qualities which adorn our nature, than Zachary Taylor.

3. His indomitable courage, his unimpeachable honesty, his Spartan simplicity and sagacity, his frankness, kindness, moderation, and magnanimity, his fidelity to his friends, his generosity and humanity to his enemies, the purity of his private life, the patriotism of his public principles, will never cease to be cherished in the grateful remembrance of all just men and all true-hearted Americans. As a soldier and a general, his fame is associated with some of the proudest and most thrilling scenes of our military history. He may be literally said to have conquered every enemy he has met, save only that last enemy, to which we must all, in turn, surrender.

4. As a civilian and statesman, during the brief period in which he has been permitted to enjoy the transcendent honors which a grateful country had awarded him, he has given proof of a devotion to duty, of an attachment to the Constitution and the Union, of a patriotic determination to maintain the peace of our country, which no trials or temptations could shake. He has borne his faculties meekly, but firmly. He has been "clear in his great office." He has known no local partialities or prejudices, but has proved himself capable of embracing his whole country in the comprehensive affections and regards of a large and generous heart.

5. But he has fallen almost at the threshold of his civil career, and at a moment when we were looking to him to render essential services to the country. Certainly, sir, he has died too soon for everybody but himself. We can hardly find it in our hearts to repine, that the good old man has gone to his rest. We would

not disturb the repose in which the brave old soldier sleeps. His part in life had been long and faithfully performed. In his own last words, "he had always done his duty, and he was not afraid to die." But our regrets for ourselves and for our country are deep, strong, and unfeigned. "He should have died hereafter."

6. Sir, it was a fit and beautiful circumstance in the close of such a career, that his last official appearance was at the celebration of the birthday of our national independence, and, more especially, that his last public act was an act of homage to the memory of him, whose example he had revered and followed, and who, as he himself so well said, "was, by so many titles, the Father of his country."

7. And now, Mr. Speaker, let us hope that this event may teach us all how vain is our reliance upon any arm of flesh. Let us hope that it may impress us with a solemn sense of our national, as well as individual dependence on a higher than human power. Let us remember, sir, that "the Lord is King, be the people never so impatient; that He sitteth between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet."

8. Let us, in language which is now hallowed to us all, as having been the closing and crowning sentiment of the brief but admirable inaugural address with which this illustrious patriot opened his presidential term, and which it is my privilege to read at this moment from the very copy from which it was originally read by himself to the American people, on the 5th day of March, 1849,-let us, in language in which "he, being dead, yet speaketh "—

9. "Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy; and let us seek to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation in our councils; by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion; by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles; and by an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own wide-spread Republic."

Death of John C. Calhoun.-In the same year, 1850, the death of John C. Calhoun occurred. This distinguished man was born in South Carolina, in 1782. He was for six years a representative in Congress; for a number of years was a United States Senator; was Secretary of War in Monroe's Cabinet; and was twice elected Vice-President of the United States. In 1845, while Secretary of State in Tyler's Cabinet, he was "the author of the annexation of Texas."

Eulogy on John C. Calhoun.-Webster.

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

2. He was a man of undoubted genius and commanding talent. All the country and all the world admit that. His mind was both perceptive and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong. Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner of his exhibition of his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual character. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise; sometimes impassioned,—still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his power consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner.

3. These are the qualities, as I think, which have enabled him, through such a long course of years, to speak often, and yet always command attention. His demeanor as a senator is well known to us all; is appreciated, venerated, by us all. No man was more respectful to others; no man carried himself with greater decorum; no man with superior dignity. I think there is not one of us but felt, when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate-his form still erect, with a voice by no

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

4. Sir, I have not, in public nor in private life, known a more assiduous person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have known no man who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or employed less of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate discharge of his duty. He seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation with his friends.

5. There was a charm in his conversation not often found. He delighted, especially, in conversation and intercourse with young men. I suppose that there has been no man among us, who had more winning manners, in such an intercourse and such conversation, with men comparatively young, than Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character in general, was his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well as a consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to the people of the State to which he belonged.

6. Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis, of all high character; and that was unspotted integrity, unimpeached honor. If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble. There was nothing groveling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. However, sir, he may have differed from others of us in his political opinions or his political principles, those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under the sanction of a great name.

7. He has lived long enough; he has done enough; and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is now a historical character. Those of us who have known him here will find that he has left upon our minds and upon our hearts a strong and lasting impression, of his person, his char

acter, and his public performances, which, while we live, will never be obliterated.

8. We shall, hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in his age; that we have been his cotemporaries; that we have seen him, and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak of him to those who are rising up to fill our places. And, when the time shall come that we ourselves shall go, one after another, in succession, to our graves, we shall carry with us a deep sense of his genius and character; his honor and integrity; his amiable deportment in private life; and the purity of his exalted patriotism.-Speech in the U. S. Senate.

Death of Henry Clay.—This illustrious statesman and orator died at Washington, on the 29th of June, 1852, in the 76th year of his age. For fervid and impassioned eloquence he has had few equals in the history of the country. The compromise measures of 1850, as already stated, were earnestly advocated by him as the means of saving the country from the peril of disunion and civil war. Unhappily, his efforts to prevent the latter subsequently proved unavailing.

Oratory of Henry Clay.-S. N. Sweet.

1. It is generally believed that Greece and Rome produced the greatest orators the world has ever seen; but it seems to me that some of the moderns are equal, if not superior, to the most renowned orators of ancient times. All who have had the pleasure of listening to Henry Clay, have had a good opportunity to

"Hear and learn the secret power

Of harmony, in tone and numbers."

2. In the spring of 1836, the writer heard Mr. Clay address. the Senate of the United States four hours on the Land Bill; and it appears to me that he was distinguished for those rhetorical qualities by means of which Demosthenes, Cicero, and Pericles immortalized their names. It is a truth, equally proclaimed by the voice of antiquity and of modern times, that the orator must stand or fall by his delivery. Mr. Clay's most excellent elocution was the principal part of his eloquence. In

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