Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-01-12
THE LATE aoN. H. A. MuH1ENB epe.

IhaI inc readers OF the Star ma y un-
derstand precisely who and what that
gentleman was, we give place to the. con-
else, eloquent, and beautiful tribr tie to
his memory falling from the lips of the
Hon. John L. Dawson, of Pa, on the
day before yesterday, viz:
Mr.. Speaker: 1t is with feelings, of no
ordinary emotion that rise to notice the
melancholy event which has st been
announced. As associated with the de-
ceased in the representation on this floor
OF the people of Pennsylvania, and stand
ing to him in the relation of personal and
intimate friendship, feel that l am but
discharging the last painful duty.
HENRY A. MUHLENBERG, as has been
well remarked, could boast an ancestry
of eminent distinction. The brother of
his grandfather, Frederick Augustus Muh-
lenberg, was the first Speaker chosen to
preside over the House Of Representatives
of the United States under the present
Constitution. Joseph Hester, his ma
ternal grandfather, was among the early
Governors of Pennsylvania. His father,
Henry A. Muhlenberg, long a distin-
guished member of this body, was after
wards choseu by General Jackson the
representative of his Government to the
court of Vienna; and after discharginc
with high credit to his reputation the
duties of that responsible position, he
was, shortly after his return to Pennsyl-
vania, nominated to the highest office
known to her constitution.
1t will be fresh, sir, in the memory of
many who now hear me, how, with the
prospect of being carried triumphantly
to the chief magistracy of that honored
Commonwealth, the father was stricken
down by the hand of the same invisible
enemy which now, on the threshold of q
public career, and in the bright morning
of life, has prostrated the son.
The deceased, sir, was a man of high
character, of inf1exible integrity. of pol
ished education and manners, and with
mind richly stored with solid and practi-
cal information. 1t was conceded by all
who knew him that he wonld have been
a most invaluable member of this body.
True, he had represented his native coun-
ty-the ancient county Of Berks-in the
Senate of Pennsylvania, and had shown
an ability which promised much for the
future. Although comparatively stran-
ger in this body, his death will cast
gloom over every portion of his native
Commonwealth.
AS husband and father his happi-
ness was complete, and it is with feelings
of sympathy, the most heartfelt, that we
reeur to the images of the devoted wife,
and little boy-an only watching
anxiously, and hopefully, by the bed Of
the stricken sufferer, soothing by their
presence his dying moments, and render
ing the last sad tribute of affection.
Sir, it is solemn thing to die. When
We close our eyes, for the last time, upon
the objects of our affections, and the
bright light of the morning-to feel, to
know that when the portals of the tomb
close upon all that pertains to this perish
ing mortality, the spirit has taken it's
flight to 'that undiscovered country
from whose bourne no traveller returns ="
The column which will mark his grave,
may serve to perpetuate by it's inscription
the memory of his virtues, but the desc
lation of his own home nothing can sup
ply.
When We contemplate, Mr.. Speaker,
the domestic woe, as we'll as the public
loss, which an event SO sudden and over
whelming occasions, we cannot but feel,
with painful sense of its reality, the un-
certain tenure of our mortal existence.
But yesterday, and l saw him within
these marble columns, full of life and spi.
rits, participating in the organization Of
this House, wearing modestly, the honors
of his trust; and to-day, numbered with
the dead. 1t is in the providence of God
to create and to destroy. The honored
and the lowly crumble alike before his
power. In a few short years, and the
neutrality-suspicious. now seated around
me will follow in the path of our depart.
ed friend, and the grave becomes com.
mon receptacle.
| I second, Mr.. Speaker, the resolutions
which have been offered by my colleague
| A HERMIT ARREsrRD.-Saturda after
noon, Deputy Sheriff Porter, of Woburn