Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1852-07-09
Remarks of Gen. Cas-.


death The ordinary labors of this Hall are suspen-
died. and its contentious hushed before the power of
Him who says to the storm of human passions as he
said of old in the waves of Gaee, Peace, be stH-l
The lessons of his Providence severe as thew NAV be-
often become merciful dispessa TONS like that which
is spreading sorrow through the land, and which
is reminding that we have higher duties to fulfil, |
and graver responsibilities to encounter than those
that meet us here, when We lay our hands upon His
holy word and invoke his holy name, promising to
be faithful to that Constitution which he gave as in
His mercy, and will withdraw only in the hour of
our blindness and disobedienee and of his own
wrath.
Another great man has fallen in our land, ripe
indeed in years and in honors, but dearer to
the American people than when called from the the
atre of his services and renown to that final bar where
the lofty and the lowly must all meet at last.
do not rise upon this mournful occasion to in
dulge in the language of panegyric. My regard
for the memory of the dead and for the obligations
of the living would equally rebuke such course
The severity of truth is at proper duty and
our best consolation. Born during the Revolutiona
ry struggle, our deceased associate of the
few remaining public men who connect the present
generation with the actors in the trying scenes of
that eventful period. and whose names and deeds
will soon be known only in the history their coun
try.
He was another illustration, and noble one, too
of the glorious equality of institutions, which
freely offer all their rewards to all who Justly seek
them, for he was the architect of his fortune.
having made his way in life by self-exerton and he
was an early adventurer in the great forest of the
west, then world of primitive vegetation, but now
the abode of intelligence and religion, of prosperity
and civilization.
But he possessed that intellectual superiority
which overcomes surrounding obstacles and which
local seeluson cannot long withhold from general
knowledge and appreciation. 1t is almost half
century since he passed through Chill othe. then
the seat of Government of Ohio. where was men,
her of the Legislature on his way to take his place
hnHTy hs1h kof
miniscence, and to feeble tribute of regard from
one, who then saw him for the first time, but who
never forget the impression he produced by the
charms of his conversation, the frankncss of his
ner, and the high qualities with which he was en-
lowed
Since then he has belonged to his country, and
taken part AMI promihent part, both in peace
and war, in all the great questions affecting her in
teress and her honor; and though it has been often
my fortune to differ from him. yet | believe he was
pure patriot participated in the councils
of nation anxious for the public good and seek
ing to attain it, during all the vcistudes of long
and active life That he exercised powerful infu-
within the sphere of his action. through the
whole country, indeed we all feel and know and we
know, too, the eminent endowments which gave him
this high distinction.
Frank and fearless in the expression of his opn-
IONS and in the performance of his duties with rare
powers of eloquence, which failed to rvet the
attention of his auditory. and which always COM
manded admiration, even when they did not carry
conviction: prompt in decision, and firm in action,
and with vigorous intellect trained in the contests
of stirring life, and strengthened BY enlarged ex-
perience and observations joined withal to an ardent
love of country and to great purity of purpose: these
the elements of his power and success. And
we dwell upon them with mournful qualification
when we shall soon follow him to the cold and
silent tomb, where shall commit earth to earth
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, with the blessed
vicon of the truth of that divine revelation which
teaches us that there is life and hope beyond the
hon Sball loor L 10 Go
mercy of bis God and of ours
He has passed beyond the reach of human praise
or censure. but the judgment of his contemporaries
has preceded and pronounced the Judgment of hsto
~. and his name and fame will shed luStre upon his
country and will be proudly cherished in the hearts
of his countrynen for long ages to come. Yes, they
will be cherished and freshly remembered when
these marble columns that surround us-so often
the witnesses of his triumph, but in few brief
hours, when his mortal frame, despoiled of the i'm
mortal spirit shall rest under this dome for the last
time to become the witnesses of his defeat in that
final contest where the mil htiest fall before the
great destroyer-when these marble columns shall
themselves have fallen-like all the works of man
leaving their broken fragments to tell the story of
former magnifcence amid the very ruins that an
nouncc decay and desolaton.
| was often with him during his last illness when
the world and the things of the world fast ia
ding away before him. He knew that the silver
cord almost loosened, and that the golden bowl
was breaking at the fountain, but he resigned
to the Will OF Providence feeling that He who gave
has the right to take away in his good time and
After his duty to his Creator and his anS-
ety for his family his first for his country,
and bis first wish for the preservation and perpetu
alton of the Constitution and the Union dear 10 him
in the hour or death as they had ever been in the
vigor of life Of that Constitution and Union. whose
defence in the last and greatest crisis of their peril
had called forth all his energies and had stimna.
ted those memorable and powerful exertions which
he who witnessed can never forget, and which, nc
doubt, FASTENED the final catastrophe. nation now
deplores with sincerity and unanmity not les:
honorable to themselves than to the memory of the
object of their affections
And when we shall enter that narrow valley
through which he has passed before us, and which
leafs to the judgment seat of God, may we be able
to saw through faith in his Son. our Saviour, anC
in the beautiful language of the hymn of the dying
'christian-dying but everything and riumphant
'' The world rcceeds, it disappears
Heaven opens on me- eyes my cars
With sounds seraphic ring;
Lend, lend your wings | mount. | fly !!
Oh grave, where is thy victory!
oh death, where is thy sting p
Let me die the death of the righteous, and let m,
last end be like his.
THE GREAT LAND DISTRIBUTION BILL.-The fol
lowing is said to he the substance of Mr. Bennett
bill. (Which has passed the House of Representa-
tves to distribute the public lands among the sew
eral States:
The Bill appropriates to Missouri 8 100000 acres
TO Alabama 2'5O0.O00; to Iowa 100000 acres t.
Michigan 100000 acres to Wisconsin 2.500.00(
acres to Louisiana 9 500 900 acres: to Mississipp