greatest cases that were ever decided by that tribunal; and it is not saying too much to assert that his arguments formed the basis of some of the ablest judgments of that court. His exuberant but rectified imagination, and brilliant literary attainments, imparted to his eloquence beauty, simplicity, and majesty, and the finish of taste and elaboration. He seemed to prefer the more deliberative style of speaking; but, when roused and assailed, he became a formidable adversary in the war of debate, discharging from his full quiver the arrows of sarcasm and invective with telling effect.

Mr. Webster was born in a forest, and, in his childhood and youth, lived amid the scenes of rural life; and it was no doubt under their inspiring influence that he imbibed that love of Nature which has given such a charm and touching pathos to some of his meditative productions. It always struck me that he had something of Burns's nature, but controlled by the discipline of a higher education. Lifted above the ordinary level of mankind by his genius and intelligence, Mr. Webster looked upon a more extensive horizon than could be seen by those below him. He had too much information, from his large and varied intercourse with great men, and his acquaintance with the opinions of all ages through the medium of books, to allow the spirit of bigotry to have a place in his mind. I have many reasons to conclude that he was not only tolerant of the opinions of others, but was even generous in his judgments toward them. I will conclude by saying that New England, especially, and the Confederacy at large, have cause to be proud of the fame of such a man.

III.

MR. CASS.

Mr. PRESIDENT: HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN! was the pathetic lamentation when the leaders of Israel were struck down in the midst of their services and of their

renown. Well may we repeat that national wail, How are THE MIGHTY FALLEN! when the impressive dispensations of Providence have so recently carried mourning to the hearts of the American people, by summoning from life to death three of their eminent citizens, who, for almost half a century, had taken part-and prominently, too-in all the great questions, as well of peace as of war, which agitated and divided their country. Full, indeed, they

were of days and of honors, for

"The hand of the reaper

Took the ears that were hoary,"

but never brighter in intellect, purer in patriotism, nor more powerful in influence, than when the grave closed upon their labors, leaving their memory and their career at once an incentive and an example for their countrymen in that long course of trial-but I trust of freedom and prosperity, also-which is open before us. Often divided in life, but only by honest convictions of duty, followed in a spirit of generous emulation, and not of personal opposition, they are now united in death; and we may appropriately adopt, upon this striking occasion, the beautiful language addressed to the people of England by one of her most gifted sons, when they were called to mourn, as we are called now, a bereavement which spread sorrowdismay almost-through the nation, and under circumstances of difficulty and of danger far greater than any we can now reasonably anticipate in the progress of our history:

"Seek not for those a separate doom,
Whom fate made brothers in the tomb;
But search the land of living men:
Where shall we find their like again?"

And to-day, in the consideration of the message of the Chief Magistrate, it becomes us to respond to his annunciation-commending itself, as it does, to the universal sentiment of the country-of the death of the last of these lamented statesmen, as a national misfortune. This mark of respect and regret was due alike to the memory of the dead and to the feelings of the living. And I have listened with deep emotion to the eloquent testimonials to the

inental power, and worth, and services of the departed patriot, which to-day have been heard in this high place, and will be heard to-morrow, and commended, too, by the American people. The voice of party is hushed in the presence of such a national calamity, and the grave closes upon the asperity of political contests when it closes upon those who have taken part in them. And well may we, who have so often witnessed his labors and his triumphswell may we, here, upon this theatre of his services and his renown, recalling the efforts of his mighty understanding, and the admiration which always followed its exertion -well may we come with our tribute of acknowledgment to his high and diversified powers, and to the influence he exercised upon his auditory, and, in fact, upon his country. He was, indeed, one of those remarkable men who stand prominently forward upon the canvas of history, impressing their characteristics upon the age in which they live, and almost making it their own by the force of their genius and by the splendor of their fame. The time which elapsed between the middle of the eighteenth century and our own day was prolific of great events and of distinguished men, who guided or were guided by them, far beyond any other equal period in the history of human society. But, in my opinion, even this favored epoch has produced no man possessing a more massive and gigantic intellect, or who exhibited more profound powers of investigation in the great department of political science to which he devoted himself, in all its various ramifications, than Daniel Webster.

The structure of his mind seemed peculiarly adapted to the work he was called upon to do, and he did it as no other man of his counrty-of his age, indeed-could have done it. And his name and his fame are indissolubly connected with some of the most difficult and important questions which our peculiar institutions have called into discussion. It was my good fortune to hear him upon one of the most memorable of these occasions, when, in this very hall, filled to overflowing with an audience whose rapt attention indicated his power and their expectations, he entered into an analysis of the Constitution, and of the great principles of our political organization, with a vigor

of argument, a force of illustration, and a felicity of dietion, which have rendered this effort of his mind one of the proudest monuments of American genius, and one of the noblest expositions which the operations of our Government have called forth. I speak of its general effect, without concurring in all the views he presented, though the points of difference neither impair my estimate of the speaker nor of the power he displayed in this elaborate.

debate.

The judgment of his contemporaries upon the character of his eloquence will be confirmed by the future historian. He grasped the questions involved in the subject before him with a rare union of force and discrimination, and he presented them in an order of arrangement, marked at once with great perspicuity and with logical acuteness, so that, when he arrived at his conclusion, he seemed to reach it by a process of established propositions, interwoven with the hand of a master; and topics, barren of attraction, from their nature, were rendered interesting by illustrations and allusions, drawn from a vast storehouse of knowledge, and applied with a chastened taste, formed upon the best models of ancient and of modern learning; and to these eminent qualifications was added an uninterrupted flow of rich and often racy old-fashioned English, worthy of the earlier masters of the language, whom he studied and admired.

As a statesman and politician his power was felt and acknowledged through the Republic, and all bore willing testimony to his enlarged views and to his ardent patriotism. And he acquired a European reputation by the state papers he prepared upon various questions of our foreign policy; and one of these his refutation and exposure of an absurd and arrogant pretension of Austriais distinguished by lofty and generous sentiments, becoming the age in which he lived and the great people in whose name he spoke, and is stamped with a vigor and research not less honorable in the exhibition than conclusive in the application; and it will ever take rank in the history of diplomatic intercourse among the richest contributions to the commentaries upon the public law of the

world. And in internal as in external troubles he was true, and tried, and faithful; and in the latest, may it be the last, as it was the most perilous, crisis of our country, rejecting all sectional considerations, and exposing himself to sectional denunciation, he stood up boldly, proudly, indeed, and with consummate ability, for the constitutional rights of another portion of the Union, fiercely assailed by a spirit of aggression, as incompatible with our mutual obligations as with the duration of the Confederation itself. In that dark and doubtful hour, his voice was heard above the storm, recalling his countrymen to a sense of their dangers and their duties, and tempering the lessons of reproof with the experience of age and the dictates of patriotism.

He who heard his memorable appeal to the public reason and conscience, made in this crowded chamber, with all eyes fixed upon the speaker, and almost all hearts swayed by his words of wisdom and of power, will sedulously guard its recollections as one of those precious incidents which, while they constitute the poetry of history, exert a permanent and decisive influence upon the destiny of nations.

And our deceased colleague added the kindlier affections of the heart to the lofty endowments of the mind; and I recall, with almost painful sensibility, the associations of our boyhood, when we were school-fellows together, with all the troubles and the pleasures which belong to that relation of life, in its narrow world of preparation. He rendered himself dear by his disposition and deportment, and exhibited some of those peculiar characteristic features, which, later in life, made him the ornament of the social circle, and, when study and knowledge of the world had ripened his faculties, endowed him with powers of conversation I have not found surpassed in my intercourse with society, at home or abroad. His conduct and bearing at that early period have left an enduring impression upon my memory of mental traits which his subsequent course in life developed and confirmed. And the commanding position and ascendency of the man were foreshadowed by the standing and influence of the boy among the comrades who surrounded him. Fifty-five years ago