The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1841-05-20

the funeral car with lis nodding plumes.
we might almost fancy them one behind
the. other. Between ,riumphan, JOY aud
solemn wo, there was scarcely an inter-
mediate scene. 1t was as when the
hopeful are summoned to the bridal, and
the burial is substituted in its place. It
would be vain to attempt to portray The
bereaved feelings to those before whom
1t Immediately passed. But the emotions
the event has excited have in measure
pervaded the community. The sudden
transition has added to the task of sym.
pahising with the general feeling, and a,
the same time, avoiding the danger of
Eexaggeraiion. If | may but succeed in
some humble approach to this difficult
line by few brief touches of his charac-
ter, as to me it has appeared, with such
reflections as may arise upon them, it
viii be all ! ought to hope, and more
than can reasonably expect to aceom-
plish in the present discourse. shall
feel at least, that mine has been well
meant among worthier eulogies.
1t is cheering reflection that, for vast
ly the larger portion even of what may
be termed the important stations OF So
clety, great talents or genius, or a capa-
cious intellect are, as leading objects,
neither necessary nor desirable. There
is that which is better than them all.
Strikingly in keeping with this, are. the
distributions of divine Providence. Take
large city, and how few comparatively
are they, who stand out from the rest as
great men in the popular occupation of
the term. Moreover, wherever those
gifts are bestowed, which ensure re-
markable pre-eminence, they are not uu-
frequently found in most unfortunate con-
trast with some great deficiency, as in
Lord Bacon, for example, gigantic in in
tellect, but dwarfsh in conscience. A.
mong many others, there is in the world,
this mistaken notion of what constitutes
true greatness. 1t is associated indis.
pensably with power surprisingly eff
cient, and like a sudden thunderbolt,
startling; supposed capable also of ac-
complishing astonishing results in every
department, and on all occasions. If |
am right in the estimate | have formed
of his character, he whose loss, the
country now deplores was not grea,
man in any of the popular acceptatons
of the term, more especially in this.
His powers were not such as startle and
impress, but rather those more solid
qualities that wear well. His character
is to be ranked in that class. of which
the Father of our country was the great
model among ourselves, if not among all
men that ever lived 1t was most re-
markable for its even balance and for the
rghful supremacy Of all the higher ele-
ments "a kind Of greatness to which
the popular voice is Stoves, to do Justice.
Its great beauty was its harmony. He
had little about him, if indeed. he was
not wholly destitute Of anything, promi
nent or dlsloined. There was no pre-
ponderance of love of power no greedy
covetousness of gam: no empty ambition
for name. We GnH him little varying
in every statiOn--the sane man IN them
all; equally a, home where his some
what varied fortunes east him. in bat.
ties. where / think, neither his lasle nor
his nature led him TO act; among the
wild tribes of the wilderness who re
garded him as friend; in the new king
doms Of the south; in the councils o.!
the nation, or in the quiet retreats OF de
nestle life, and the unpre,enIlgg, usclVl
services, from which he was called to be
ruler.
He was not peculiarly endowed with
the philosophic element. Nevertheless,
though he might not be consulted as a
philosopher. he would be the first to be
conided in for his discretion. He had
that clear good sense which oftenlimes
sees more surely even than the highest
philosophy. Though he might not elec-
,rify and charm us with that brilliancy
of mind, the gift of some, he would sell.
dom lead us TO lament that he had erred
in judgment, and never that he had been
betrayed by passion. Mullitudes might
pass him by fascinated by no gli,tering
attraction, but they, who fingered long
enough 10 see his worth, would feel re.
uctant to depart. Little occasion would
he ever furnish an enemy, if any such
he had, for accusation against him Ger:
tainly little in imprudence or folly, and
still less in any moral delinquency. l.
not this the better kind of greatness So
far as character alone is concerned, is it
no. that which best fills and hunors every
public station (? z ,- ~
This man, whom the people had set
over them, remarkable as he was, in the
general view of his character for an even
and we'll balanced one, had nevertheless,
two or three leading points among the
higher qualities, which we may cursorlly
notice. AS striking as any, perhaps.
was his sense ,ofjus,ice. shc,.ld be
slow to ascribe to him. asa characters
tic trait, either. warmth of character, or
ardor of temperament. But the sight
ola wrong practised either upon Others
or himself, and much more any induce
ment to perpetrate snch an act, or the
suspicion of having committed it. would
! be likely sometimes to be mistaken for
both. He was not the one to stand calm