New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-07-09

with deep sensibility, what has just fallen from
the Senators who have preceded me. We have
heard, sir, the voice Of Kentucky ky-and upon
This occasion she hada right to speak--in min
gled accents Of pride and sorrow for it hassss
rarely fallen to the lot of any State to lament e
the loss of sueh a son. But, sir, Virginia, too,
is entitled to her place in this procession for a.
she cannot be supposed to be unmindful Of the
tie which bound her to the dead. When the
earth opens to receive the mortai part which
she gave to man, it is then that affection is eager
to bury in its bosom every recollection but those
Of love and Kindness. And, zis, when, the last
sensible tie is about to be severed, 1t is then that
we look with anxious interest 10 the deeds Of the
life, and to the emanations Of the heart and the
mind, for those more enduring monuments Which
are the creation of an immortal nature
In this instance we can be at no loss for these n
This land, sir, is full Of the monuments of his
genius. His memory is as imperishable as Ame-s
rican history ITSELF for he was one Of those who
made it. Sir, he belonged to that marked olass
who are the men Of their century, for t,was
his rare good fortune not only to have been en-
lowed with the capacity to do great things, byt
to have enjoyed the opportunities Of achieving
them. / know, sir, it has been said and deplored
that he wanted some Of the advantages Of an.
! early education; butslt, perhaps, has not been
remembered that, in many respects, he enjoyed
such opportunities for mental training as can.
| rarely fall to the lot Of man. He I'D not a
|
such oppor sunities of learning from men g few
men have ever enjoyed. Sir, it's to be remem-
bered that he was reared at a time when tnere
| was a state of society in the Commonwealth &
l which gave him birth such as has never been
seen there before nor since. It was his early
privilege to see how justice was administered by
| O Pendleton and a Wythe, with the last OF whom
he was in the daily habit Of familiar intercourse,
He had constant opportunities to observe how
forensic questions were managed by Marshall
and Wickham. He was old enough, too, to
have heard and to have appreciated the elo-
quence Of d Patrick Henry, and Of Geo Keith
Taylor In short, sir, he lived in society in
which the examples of a Jefferson, and Madi-
son, and Monroe, were living influences, and
on which the setting sun Of Washington cast
the mild efulgence Of its departing rays.
He was trained, too, as has been well said by
the Senator from Michigan, (Alr. Cass,) at
period when the recent revolutionary struggle
had given more elevated tone to patriotism, and
impaired higher cast to public feeling and to
public character. Such lessons were worth,
perhaps, more Ito him than the whole encyclo-
pedia of scholastic learning, Not only we're
the circumstances of his early training faVora-
BILE to the development of his genius, but the
theatre upon which he was thrown was eminently
propitious for it's exercise. The circumstances
of the early settlement Of Kentucky, the gem
generous, daring, and reckless character of the
people ;all fitted it to be the theatre for the dis
play of those commanding qualities Of heart and
| mind which he so eminentiy possessed There can
be little doubt but that those people and their
chosen leader exercised mutual influence upon
each other and no can be surprised that
with his brave spirit, and commanding elo-
quence, and fascinating address, he should have
led not only there but elsewhere.
l did not know him, Mr.. President, as you did,
in the freshness of his prime, or in the full ma
turity ofhis manhood. Idid not hear him, sir,
as you have heard him, when his voice reused
| the spirit of his countrymen for war, when he
cheered the dropping, when he rallied the doubt
e ng through all the vicissitudes of long and
doubtful contest. / have never seen him, sir,
when, from the height Of the chair he ruled the
u House of Representatives by the energy Of his
}, will, CT when upon the level Of the floor he
u ercised control almost absolute by the mas
u terry of his intellect, When l first knew him
e his sun had a little passed its zenith The eff
/ facing hand of time had just begun to touch the
/ neaments of his manhood. But yet, sir. Isaw
: enough of him to be able to realize what he
ie might have been in the prime of his strength and
10 in the full vigor of his. maturity. I saw him,
t. sir, you did, when he led the g opposition "
ed during the administration of Mr.. Van Buren,
II. | had daily opportunities of witnessing the eS
hibit1on of his powers during the extra session
III under Mr.. Tyler's administration. And ! saw
ne as well as all saw in a recent contest, the ex-
III hibition OF power on his part, which was most
marvellous in one of his years. ps
Y Mr.. President, he may not have had as much
u, of analytic skill some others in dissecting u
"a subject 1t may be- perhaps. that he did nat
VI seek to look quite SO far ahead as some who
e have been most distinguished for political iore
ID cast. But it may be truly said of Mir. Clay
l. that he was no exaggerator. He looked at
IN events through neither end of the telescope hnh
IL surveyed them with the natural and the nsked
II eye, He had the capacity of seeing things as
- the people saw them, and of feeling things as
he ,p fhapo Ha IA Sjr m
IN other man whom have ever seen, the true ines
meric touch of the orator-the rare art OF trans
terriDg his impulses to others. Thoughts, feel
sn ipgs emotions, came from the ready mould Of
IN his genius, radiant and glowing, and communi-
u Gated their own warmth to every heart which
received them. His, too. was the power Eel
welding the higher and intenser forms OF pas
ey sion with majesty and an ease which none bn'
y | the great masters of the human heart can ever
u employ. 1t was his rare, good fortune to be ons
nc OF those who form, as it were, q sensible hnl
,d and. living tradition which connects one ags
he with another, and through which one genera
'e, ton speaks its thoughts and feelings, and ap
ee peals to another. And unfortunate is it for
ho country when it ceases to possess such men; fo
la' it is to them that we chiefly owe the capacity
-he maintain the unity of the great Epos OF human
history, and preserve the consistency of politica
'he action. as 'I --.s..s . i'5 =
he Sir, it may be said that the grave is still ne,
vas made which covers the remains OF one OF thes
vas great men who have been taken from our midst
Ne md the earth is to open TO receive another
me know not sir, whether it can be said to be
Gu matter of lamentatien SO far as the dead ar
ISL concerned that the thread of this life has Deer
ere clipped when once it had been fully spun. They
escape the infrmties of age, and they leave a.
'ur imperishable name behind them. The loss, slr
is not theirs, but ours; and loss the more 7
rs be lamented that We see none to fill the place
re- thus made vacant on the stage of public affairs
ina But it may be well for us, who have much NOR
ian cause to mourn and to lament such deaths,
y pause amidst the business of life for the purpos
the of contemplating the spectacle before us, and
pa drawing the moral from the passing event.
ing is when death sezes for its victims those who AZ
Was by sc head and shoulders taller than all th
ne ne rest, that we feel most deeply the uneertaint
'ap of human affairs and that the glories of ou
~ - mortal state are shadows, not substantis
'ou things 1t is, sir, in such instances the pre-
eie sent that we best study by the light Of eS
-, ample the true object of life, and the wisest end
~. wv OF human pursuit,
", Mr.. Hale.--Mr. President, Il hope shall nc
~ IN he considered obtrusiye if on this occasion fe
..h oa a brief moment, minge my humble voice wit
N.Y. ,1ea those that, with ability that shall neitht
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