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force to work, work, work; he seemed to be saying to himself, 'the night cometh when no man can work.' Menefee knew men, and was rarely ever deceived in any one. He was not quick to judge men, but when he did pronounce judgment there was no appeal. He was a patriot, a lover of his kind, and had he lived, I verily believe he would never have become a corrupt politician as we have them today." Another gift of Menefee's, an essential to political success, was his ability as a storyteller. Kentucky has produced no better after-dinner speaker than he.

His Diary reveals many of his characteristics, a few of which may be tabulated here. He was both retrospective and introspective, though not morbid. He was also an optimist, regarding his ill-health as a blessing in disguise, since it gave him an opportunity to study history, which would have been denied him had he been well and attending to his practice. He defined history as being not a knowledge of mere facts and dates, but a knowledge obtained of the causes, effects, consequences and dependencies; in this he attained to the modern definition. On historical subjects he was thinking far in advance of his time, and had he lived he might have written a history that would have added new lustre to his name. He was especially fond of constitutional history.

Menefee was a very modest man. With all the honors that Kentucky and the nation had heaped upon him, he remained the same. He was so very modest that for fear some one would accuse him of egotism, he would not

write an autobiography. If he had written. one, it is safe to say it would have been the great Kentucky autobiography, and one that people of his State would not have willingly let die. It would have been as charming to a Kentuckian, at any rate, as "Franklin's Autobiography." To-day when obscure men bring themselves before the public eye by the aid of their "own story," and when a man of Menefee's fame refuses to write a history of his life, we may see this trait of his character emphasized.

Richard H. Menefee was a moral man. Tradition has it that he never drank when wine was served at his own table, except upon one occasion, then he took a few sips of champagne with a party of friends whom he was entertaining. No historian can say of Menefee, as one has said, too truly, of Marshall, that if his morality had been equal to his intellect he would have been indeed a great man. No matter to what heights he may attain, no man is a really great man who is not moral as well. Morality is greater than intellect.

He was known throughout Kentucky, and especially on his native heath, as "Dick" Menefee, just as Thomas F. Marshall and Abraham Lincoln were known as "Tom" and "Abe," and as to-day our strenuous President is called "Teddy." But then, we of America have little regard for dignified greatness. The man who would lead the American people must be one of the people.

Menefee was ambitious. He admits that he had lived too much in the future. I have no doubt that he had his eye fixed upon the high

est office within the gift of the people-the Presidency itself. He did not take Shakespeare's advice to throw ambition away, although he may have realized by that sin fell the angels. He was ambitious to be a great lawyer and a distinguished statesman, but it is as an orator that he holds his place in Kentucky history. His oratory was not the proverbial flower-laden style that has been characteristic of Southern orators. He spoke right on as a plain blunt man, and in his simplicity there was great eloquence. Although he realized that painting and sculpture were more lasting than oratory, he also realized that it was God's great gift to him, and he made the most of that gift. As one of the three great Kentucky orators, younger than Marshall or Clay by many years, Menefee has received from all of the Kentucky historians one of their fairest pages. Henry Clay unhesitatingly pronounced him the greatest genius that Kentucky ever produced. Only one other man in Kentucky history rivals him for his place with Marshall and Clay, John Hayes (1793-1836), an erratic, often intoxicated lawyer, who lived in Bardstown, Kentucky. He was murdered while in an intoxicated condition, and to-day mention of his name only awakens sympathy. Menefee could be as sarcastic as the late Senator from Kansas, John J. Ingalls. Unlike Ingalls, he "tempered his sarcasm with genial humor which cured the wound which he had inflicted."

While he was not a communicant of any church, Richard H. Menefee believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of the

living God. A few months before his death he was unsettled in his religious convictions, but as the end drew near he became absolutely certain that, though a man die, he will live again. He belonged to the church which has been described as "the church without the church." While Menefee's biographer cannot call him "a great Christian" as Lord Salisbury called Gladstone, yet there is great truth in the statement that a man of considerable prominence wrote to Menefee's widow: "I consider Menefee not only the greatest man that Kentucky ever produced, but the best." The fact remains, however, that he did not unite with the visible church.

I desire to conclude this biography of Richard Hickman Menefee with the final words of Thomas Carlyle's life of his friend and brother man of letters, John Sterling, who had many characteristics in in common with Menefee. While I have not known Menefee in the flesh as Carlyle knew Sterling, I believe that I know this Kentuckian of Kentuckians. "Nay, what of men or of the world? Here, visible to myself, for some while, was a brilliant human presence, distinguished, honorable and lovable amid the din of common population; among the million little beautiful, once moved a beautiful human soul; whom I, among others, recognized and lovingly walked with, while the years and hours were. Sitting now by his tomb in thoughtful mood, the times bring a new duty for me. Why write the Life of Menefee? I imagine I had a commission higher than the world's, the dictate of Nature herself, to do what is now done. Sic prosit."

Adair, John, 16.

Adams, John Q., 133, 184.
Allen, Jas. Lane, 57.
Allen, Jas. W., 43, 44.
Allen, Wm., 270, 275.
Andrews, J. W., 43, 44.
Arnold, Dr. Thos., 24.

Barbour, Gov. Jas., 238.
Barre, W. L., 302.
Bashaw, J. W., 43, 44.
Bell, John, 85, 132.
Bell, J. F., 53.

Birney, Jas. G., 242, 253.
Blackie, Wm., 15.
Bledsoe, A. T., 15.
Boon, Ratliffe, 193.
Boone, Jamina, 17.

INDEX

Bourne, Walker, 23, 24, 25.
Boyle, Capt. John, 11.
Boyle, Justice John, 66.
Breckenridge, John C., 252.
Breckinridge, W. C. P., 314.
Breathitt, Gov. John, 49.
Bright, John M., 278.
Brooks, Jas. A., 32.
Brown, John, 33.
Bryant, Edwin, 54, 246.
Buckner, R. A., 267.
Bullitt, A. S., 18.
Bullitt, W. N., 43, 44.
Bullock, W. C., 43, 44.
Bullock, W. F., 67.
Bush, Pleasant, 64.

Calhoun, John, 8o.
Carlyle, Thos., 320.
Carson, Kit, 15.

Chambers, John, 80, 232.
Chapman, G. T., 30, 33.
Cheatham, E. B., 64.
Chopin, 15.

Clay, C. M., 54, 241, 268.

Clay, Henry, 16, 40, 66, 80, 112,

232, 250, 319.

Clay, Henry, Jr., 237.
Clark, Gen. G. W., 313.

Clark, Gov. Jas., 55, 59, 62, 237.
Clements, L. V., 251.

Collins, Lewis, 232, 275.
Collins, R. H., 302.

Combs, Gen. Leslie, 54, 58, 241.
Crittenden, J. J., 80, 234, 266.
Cushman, Samuel, 208.
Cumbreling, C. C., 195, 204,
215.

Daniel, Henry, 61, 73.
Darwin, Charles, 15.
Davenport, S. T., 20.
Davis, Garrett, 55.
Davis, Josiah, 37.
Dawson, Wm. Č., 212.
Dixon, Archibald, 61, 235.
Donaldson, Col. John, 20.
Dudley, Dr. B. W., 269.

Edwards, Ninian, 15.
Everett, Edward, 196.

Faneuil Hall, 75, 196.
Fillmore, Millard, 133, 214.
Fiske, John, 17.

Fitz Gerald, Edward, 15.
Forrest, Gen. N. B., 216.

Fox, Fountain, 61.

Frazer, Oliver, 232, 271.

French, Richard, 74, 80, 184.

Gaines, E. P., 57.

Gill, Harrison, 32.

Gladstone, Wm. E., 15. 320.

Granger, Francis, 55, 68.
Grant, U. S., 17.
Graves-Cilley duel, 140.
Green, Judge John, 53, 54-
Grimes, Owen, 78.
Guerrant, Dr. H. S., 87, 88.
Guthrie, Jas., 61, 65.

Hall, Rev. N. H., 48, 275.
Hanson, Samuel, 61.
Hardin, Ben, 49, 61, 267.
Harlan, Jas., 80, 212.

Harrison, A. G., 26.

Harrison, Gen. W. H., 55, 238,

253.
Hart, Joel T., 271.

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