Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-01-14
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
he Journal of Friday having been. read


Mr.. DRUM rose and addressed the House as follows:
With heart profoundly afflicted with the sad
which has just befallen, l rise to occupy for few
ments the attention of this House. The melancholy duty
has been imposed upon to announce you the death
OF Hon. HENRY A. MUHLgNBERG, a Representative in
Congress from the State Of Pennsylvania He died about
ten o'clock last night after illness of four
five weeks. ..." ........
Death, sil is the lot Of all mankind We are
taught expect it from the time begin tread
the pathway of life until mental vision expands upon
the great mysteries of eternity ALI that enjoy all
that love, all that makes this world bright and beau
fu alike pass away under the inexorabe touch of
decay And not alone is this stern lesson taught in the
material world around u.s. Upon every neament of our
moral being is TO be the never-ceasing element
OF change. The fresh feelings Of the heart with which
youth begins TO climb the hill of the future are chilled
before the summit is half gained the hopes eagerly
form in early life before middle age become delusions;
affections twine themselves around u.s. and away
the heart becomes scared with disappointment and Attic
ton until its early sensbites crushed out and most
go TO their graves in advanced age feeling that they
realize the solemn truth that change and decay writ
ten every where And yet, sir, Notwithstanding this
although know and tesl it to be the universal law,
death is most solemn event. Though it surrounds us
every where and IS ever present. though it comes to US
the wings of the gentest breeze and lies hidden in
the fragrance of the loveliest flower; though may
miarze ourselves with all its shapes and prepare
selves to meet its stern demands yet sir it
without speaking to the souls Of the living it's tones of
terrible instruction Oh sir, there is eloquence like
that Of death ..'
Mr.. Speaker the voice that sounds to us the death of
my lamented friend and colleague speaks no common
warning. few short days ago, and he glowing
with JOY and youth and the ygor of health he lies
wrapped in the last cold garment of mortality, and we
stand here around his grave. Then there were few
earth whose existence radiant with brighter prospects
OF fame and happiness. The center of charmed circle
that beamed with intelligence and love, he surrendered
himself to AL the aurements of affection and all the fas
cnatons of refined intellectual enjoyment. He firm
y seated in the attachment noble constituency and
he G. Ia huo fwth hon of
faithfully serving them, and of writing his
upon the historical records Of his country He fear
lessy with his eye fixed upon the the but alas! it
only to be extngushed in its blaze. Now the
that holds his sacred dust all of mortality that remains
The Illusion is past and the hope that animated and
taned him is quenched forever.
Among other peculiartes of Mr. Muhlenberg's situa-
ton in life the circumstance that he sprung from
ancestry whose familiar words in the history
of this country When the vast field Of benevolent
terprse opened in the New World and learning and pety
from the clustered cells Of Europe reclaim and
ferze the barren waste of humanity in the western
hemisphere there they to be found zealousy and
faithfully laboring nst into the hearts Of the humble
settlers the great truths of eternal life and to teach them
in what manner to assert TIE digny Of immortal
hood which God had predesned them When the path
way OF the desert-full Of peril and ambuscade, and
desthwas to be explored that the children of the forest
might be brought to know and acknowledge the dominion
of race there still another of that great
cesry faithful the high trust reposed in his de
ty and fearless # dangers that might appa the stouest
heart oiling steadily forward in the path of duy When
again the hand of oppression pressed heavily upon the
infant colonies and men appealed with stern resolution
the sword to redress their wrongs the last
himself in the ranks Of patriotism still of
this iustrous name who abandoned the sacred desk
grid his sword upon his thigh who gathered from his
congregation the material for regiment and who served
throughout the of the Revolution with character
most eminent for fidelity and gallantry.
One Of MIR. Muhlenbergs ancestors was among the first
members of Congress from Pennsylvania and occupied
the position of Speaker of that boay His
father also occupied very high position public
in the State Of Pennsylvania. lie represented in Con-
gress Tor series Of terms the county but recently
represented by my deceased friend. During the admin
israen of Gen. Jackson he held the situation abroad of
Minister to the Court Of Austria and the period OF
his death he was the nominated candidate of the Demo-
cracy of Pennsylvania for Governor Of that State Death
sudden and unlocked for snatched from his grasp the
crowning honor Of well-spent fe as It has just now
arrested the brilliant Of this his promising son.
But although Mr.. Muhlenbergs pathway in life was
surrounded with the lustre Of distinguished ancestry
he yet lived long enough to prove that in his own true