Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1843-12-23

years he was beloved and distinguished
member of this body and surely nobler or
a finer character never adorned the character
of the American Senate.
He was my friend but speak not the
language of friendship when speak his praise.
A debt of justice is all that | can attempt to
discharge; an imperfect copy of the true man
is all that can attempt TO paint.
A sagacious head, and feeling heart, were
the great characteristics of DR.. Linn. lie had
Judgment which penetrated both men and
things, and gave him near and clear views of
far distant events. lie saw at once the bearing
the remote bearing-of great measures, ei-
ther for good or for evil ; and brought instantly
to their support, or opposition, the logic Of a
prompt and natural eloquence, more beautiful
in It's delivery and more effective in its ap-
pcatou than any art can bestow. He had
great fertility of mind, and was himself the au-
thor and mover of many great measures
some for the benefit ofthe whole Union--some
for the benefit of the Great Wcst-some for
the benefit of his own State-many for the
benefit Of private individuals. The pages of
Our legislative history will bear the evidences
of these meritorous labors TO remote and
grateful postcrity,
Brilliant as were the qualities of his head,
the qualities OF his heart still eclpsed them. 1t
is to the heart we look for the character of the
man; and what heart had Lewis Linn The
kindest, the gcntlest, the most feeling, and
the most generous that ever beat in the bosom
of bearded men! And yet, when the occasion
required it, the most daring also. He never
behed a case Of human woe without melting
before it; he never encountered an appariton
of earthly danger without giving it defiance.
Where the friend, or even the stranger, in
danger or distress, to whose succor he did not
fly, and whose sorrowful or periious case he
did not make his own! When-where--u as
he ever called upon Tor service, or n sacrifice
and rendered not, upon the instant, the one or
the other, as the occasion required
| The senatorial service of this rare man fell
upon trying times-high party times-when
| the collisions of party too often embitter the
ardent feelings of generous natures; but who
| ever knew bitterness, or party animosites in
| him! lie was, indeed, party-man--as true
| to his party as to his friend and his country
/ but, beyond the time of duty and of principle
| beyond the debate and the vote--he knew no
party, and saw no opponent
Who among us all, even after the fcrcest
debate, ever met him without meeting the be.
nignant smile and the kind salutaton Who
| of us all ever needed a friend without finding
one in him Who of US all was ever stretch.
ed upon the bed Of sickness without finding
him at lis side Who of us all ever knew Of
personal difficulty of which he was not, as fal
as possible the kind com poser
Such was Senator Linn, in high party times
here among u.s. And what he was here, a
mong us, he was every where and with every
body. AT home, among his friends and neigh
bors; on the high road, among casual acquant
anccs; in foreign lands among strangers il
all, and IN every of these situations, he was tn,
same thing. lie had kindness and sympath,
for every human being; and the whole voy
age OF his life was one continued and hrnigr
circumnavigation of all the virtues which adorl
and eXalt the character of man. piety chari
ty, benevoence, generosity, courage, patriotism
fidelity, all shone conspicuously in him, AM
might eXtort from the beholder the impressy,
Interrogatory, For ehat place ras this ma,
made Was it for the Senate, or the camp
For public or for private life For the bar o
the bench For the art which heals the dis
! eases OF the body, or that which cures the in
+ frmi,es ofthe State For which of all thes
was he born And the answer is, for ALL
! lie was born to fill the largest and most va
ried circle of human excellence and, to crow
$ all these advantages, nature had given hin
a what the great Lord Bacon calls perpetua
I letter of frecommendaton-n countenance, nc
. only good, but sweet aud winning
with the virtues of the CONTEMPLATING un
] versal confidence, and such as no strange
a could beholl-no traveller, even in the deser
i could meet, without stopping to reverence, an
IS saying Here is a man in whose hands
e could deposite life, liberty, fortune, honor. Alas
J. that SO much excellence should have perishe
e so soon f! that such man should have bee
,r snatched away at the early age of forty-eigh
" and while all his faculties were still ripenin
e and developing.
st Inthe life and character of such man,
lr exuberant in all that is grand and beautiful