Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-11-01
rRNNEssEE LEGISLATURES.
SENATE.

cEAAIE-
MoHDAT, Ostober 81, 1859.
The Senate was called to order al nina o'clock. by
the Speaker, and opened With prayer by the Raw.
MIR. Smith
RERORTs FROM srAsDIyG- COMMITTEES.
Mr.. ST0KELY, from the Special Committee on
the Code returned Senate bst 30. ~, TO repeal sec
ton 4 766 of the COde with bill in lien, and re-
comm ended he passage of the same.
Mr. LANE from the COMMITTEES on Banks, re-
turned Senate bill, No. So, to Withdraw the Bank
Of Memphis and establish in lieuthereof branch Of
the Bank OF Chsttanoogs at Memphis, and recon-
manded its passag".
DEATH OF Ex-Gov. JONES'
The call of the morning business having been gone
though.
Mr. PAYNE said;
Mr. Speaker: Whatever may be the character Of
our engagements. or however much eagrossed with
the purposes and aims of life whether as legislators
fixing the policy of States, in other and varied
plans aud occupations of life, we must occasionally
turu aside frefa their confederation, TO reflect upon
the yanit7 of all huBan pursuits, and 10 conten-
plate the strange and mysterioae dsst ny that Es
each member of the great family Of n,an-we
forced TO pause and look at the dial pate Of time as
It's Ienghening shadows indicate our rapid trausits
towards the misty clouds that enshroua the land of
the hereafter These thoughts are bTough. up by s
thousand ins.rumentaiities, and in no way they
more strongly impressed, tina Ehsn we hear of the
fail Of the good aud the great, who have been taken
off the midst of their usefuaess, to answer to the
summons OF Him who holds ia bis hands the issues
4 OF lie ana death. 1t is right and proper tnat
should give vent TO the feelings Of regret
/ that We feel for the lIss Of those who ia
life have labered aud toiled for our good. It
is with this view, sic, that | alise this morning
to announce the death of oHe of my immediate con-
sttuen.s, whose name is familiar 70 US all, and
which is the common, as 1t will b. the tres-
sured property ef ms -ratiEe SlaLs-L silada, of
Course, to Ex-Governor JAMEs O. JOxEs wac died
at his residence, near the City Of Memphis, On Sat
urday, the twenty-ninth instant.
The deceased had been for many years afflicted
with disease AMI thOlgh this fact but little
known, yet its termination was looked to not with
| out gloomy foreb Jaings. Re bore up against his
! malsdy with q cneerfulness that vas seldom eau AZ
led aud contend ID with the invading foe like true
aud brave man, aud oaly surrendered when his con-
stitution plete wreck, and only gave up the
active duties of life when death claimed MIN its
victim. This is neither the time nor the place to
| indulge in an extended eulogy upon tie merits OF
the departed statesman, but Erief notice. under
the Circumstances, presume will net be inadulissi-
BILE.
Gov JOKES first entered public life in 1889, as a
member OF the other House from Wilson county
am not appraised Of ans question or event during
the session whe1 he was mem9er that called for
the exercise of those peculiar, might say WONDER
4 ed as popular debster. lie was placed on the
Wing electoral ticket OF 1870 and in tlat fiery con-
test, which brought out an amount o. speaking ts-
emit never before exhibited In the State, the then
new candidate for public favor won the place Of
honor .Hs was made The standart-bearer OF his
party in 1884, against the sblest OF our Democratic
orators. The canvasses between Jones anu Polk,
in lS4l and 43. formed an era In the political an
nails of the State, aud for the mastery displays oil
TACT talent and industry we're perhaps never equal
led In any similar contest. Jones was honered win
the full conf ieaee of his party and fer four years
that be guided the affairs Of Slateas the Chief Execu
live officer his ability and patriotism fully justified
the confidence of his frieads. That confidence wa:
more siguaIy displayed By his election to e Senate
of the United Stats. Ia that august assembly,
where were to be found The mightiesE intelleels oi
the age Senator Jones maintained the honor of his
State was a firm and uufiHehing advocate of the
constitutional rights of the SCUM, and the firm
friend to the continued union of the States.
| Whatever We may say, or however much We may
eritieise particular acts or opinions, all, yes ALI
whether Wig, Democrat or Amsrican, will unite
In awarding 10 the deceased the praise due to
patriotic statesman, splendid speaker ana 81
! honest man. His deportm emit and Bearing Epon the
stump as O partisan dsbRter, his devotion to the
people's interests as their Chief Executive, his
long 2seryices in the Senate chamber, have made
up Tor him history Of which his pOsterity may
well be proud,
For several years Gov Jones had Withdrawn al,
most entirely from the arena Of party politics; he
acknowledged feslty to any Of the present party
organizati6ns nor did he pretend to cast party
vote. lie seemed TO live upon the recouections o.
the past No rom lntic lover ever fingered over The
sleeping dust of his queen of beauty with more un
firing coustsscy no fond aud doaung mother wa!
ever more absorbed with the thoughts vi her depart
ed child than was James q. Jones with the namI
ard N emory of the great man whose fortunes ht
had followed and whose flag he had so. often slC
so vaIizntly defended. In his own estiustion g.
least he spent his last years in political orphsnage
and considered no man worthy 10 be he leader, al
ter having seen the tQRering form Of his departed
chief.ain quietly placed amidst the shades OF Ash
land. This may have been the romance efthe poi
itican and therefore wrong; of this it is not fc,
me to speak. But let me m0destly pass Il
another phase in the history Of the departed states
man, and one about yhioh 70 differences of opinion
can exist. In another relation Gov Jones PROVED
himself one of the nobest benefectors of the State
When the move was first made to connect Tennes-
see With the great marts Of the East by means o.
railroad improvements, Gov. Jones was among The
first TO give his giant lsbOrs t. the completion Of
such result. In company with its present CHIEF
officer " Z. Stevenson, Gov. Jones lab ored to raise
the means for building the and Chatan ooge
Railroad and by his eloquent appeals--his winning
address, succeeded in bringing the people up to tae
support OF this first great pioneer enterprise of tae
Sae. The result of his labors ara to be seen in the
connection Of our metropolitan city Win ether and
distant trading points of the GBiOh.
When he settled in Memphis, 1t was comparative
" an obscure village, without capita or credit and
trusting for future prosperity and growth to its ge-
ogrsphical position. Il vas VithOut psssable
roads during the business seasons and tde
trade and commerce. of the interior we're forced 10
seek other AMI more convenient outlets. Gov. Jones
at once entareI with all the ardOr Of his nature
into the plan of improving the public highways to
I g. I'd oft al Of I
country we're brought forward, in response to Lie
urgent and powerful appeals-plank roads we're
speedily constructed, ana from that period dates
! ths commencement of the splendid commercial era
in the history OF Memphis, This was the ini-
tstory step in the grand scheme CT public improve
mepts, which when completed, will make Memphis
the great Railroad centre of the Southwest. The
Memphis and Charleston Railroad was gigantic
enterprise, and he among the first to place that
enterprise on foot Indeed be looked to
the money, and to carry forward this great work,
snd we'll did be aequt himself of the responsible
duty His strong and telling appeals united the
North Alabama a4d West Tennessee farmers
and capitalists. He brought together the pee
| pie of Charleston and New Orleans in support of
the same cause, and the finest road in the South
Mississippi valley was thus brought into existence
Already along this great avenue floats the countless
| treasures of trade and commerce-upon it is to be
daily been the once distant settler of the vest now
brought into close proximity with his ancestral
home, returning to that home of his youth to
embrace once more the loved ones that he left be-
hind snd to bow once again around the family all
tar so dear to the rceollections Of childhood. But
if the State of Tennessee owes s heavy obligation
to the departed as of her faithful servants and
| beasfastors what is the weight of the obligations
pressing upon the COMMUNITY where he ended his
DAYS aud whose interests he so essentially prOmot
ed? In its infancy he came to its aid-he did not
! bring gold and silEer-he was no fortunate holder
Of extensive capital, but his contribution was the
nigh power of q splendid intellect, united with
! ind5mitabe energy. This was the tremendous
agency that commanded the purse strings of the
cspitalists-the cooperation of the enterprising,
and the strong arm of the laborious. 1t this
mighty agency used by the deceased and his cOad-
tutors that started the growing city of Memphis
/ upon her golden pathway, and that will ultimately
! enthrone her upon the great mother Of waters as
! the queen of western commerce,
| Gov Jones had been engaged for some time be-
fore his death in the plan of uniting the Pacific and
! Ell Passo Railroad Compsniss, which, had he lived
to consummate would have carried the line of rail-
road to the very base of the Rocky Mountains,
e., H. fbor ob a+adn naatin