The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-01-07
CITY, FRIDAY, JANUARY I, 1859.

neutrality laws 10 those who may not agree With him
IA his conclusions 10 those who may dissent from him in
the opinions which he entertained aud upon which, 10
SOME extent he acted have only To say that to at
least il ID sufficient apology that whatever exist
eli from exce of love for representative liberty
We have been reared from our infancy to turn 90 the
OF De kalb and Kosoiusko and Pulnslti and La
Fayete, and they all who left their country 10
Join their fate with fathers when they bore the
~ rebels have said was not my purpose to speak ia
the language of eognm, attempt To give history of
the deceased and with this brief auson 10 that which
may be in some minds the subject of criticism leave the
subject.
Ia politics, he belonged to what is known the State
rights strict ctconstruction school fe followed ii in the
various phases and names which it has borne Mr. Cal
houn the light and guide Of his youth and when
lac occupied in the House of Representatives. he
devoed leave Others to say II he did not successfully
endoayor To follow in the path OF that great political
luninary. viii not upon occasion like this. at
tempt To defend of is not expected that should
attempt TO justifythe creed which he entertained and
which y also my but allude TO It because it is
part of the public history OF the deceased and Is logical
deduction from the character ascribed to him who
looe sfe strict ends Of Justice, and believed that all
power emanatd from, and permanently resided in, the
people who held that government existed alone by the
OF those whom il established and that
compacis for the delegation of functions must be rigdly
construed to enttle them to popular respect and that
within this limit people who enter into an obligation
bound to adhere to ii TO the last ot aud TITLE Out
Of these elements wrought the political creed which
he always avowed, and which, this occasion, have
ascribed 10 him.
Duty to his country marked his career both military
and civil. Duty The word which in the American, as
in the English heart always occupies the first position,
We not people captivated by spendor, whom the
mantle of glory dzzles to blind thsm to the obga
tons imposed upon States and individuals and covers
failures Of duty Ours, trust is long to remain gov
ernment Of justice and people among whom general
who violated the constitution under which he held his
commission could not receive ovation, though he
brought with him from triumphant campaign the rep
nf
Duty the great wachword of an American statesman,
the regard for which is the first of those who
hold position under form OF government, whether
their functions le legislative judicial, executive In
this devotion to duty, have before suggested he
passed the last days of his life and fell victim to it,
sadly impressing us with the fact that
.erbe paths Of glory but the gravep
Faithful to his country endeared to his friends honest
in all his relations public and private respected by his
neghbors language fails express the tender and
exemplary relation which bore his family he closed
long life Of public usefulness, having impressed upon
those who knew him best the conviction that every day
made him but more and more necessary not to his tami-
ly only, but to his country also At the home, and in
the midst OF his relatives and friends his mission
ended and life itful fever passed the 18th of July
1858 lie died leaving behind him that good
without which glory is but tavern song
offer the following resolutions
Rsi That the senate receives with sincere regret, tho
Of The death of IIou JonS QrirAS late member @
dcrs 10 e relatives sympathy
with them under The they have been called sustain
family General QrrrmAs certified q the foregoing
Resolved On token Fospeo, the Of the dcOased
the Senate do now adjourn
Mr.. lIcsE representative from the State OF Mssissip
p addressed the House follows
Mr. SPEAKER Taking my seat in this hall for the first
time, member of the House of Representatives, i
have melancholy duty to perform. 1 would il
otherwise not that this duty should not devolve upon
me- but that it should not devolve upon any rah
er that the distinguished dead was here TO personate
himself one of the iliustrious living. &
But sir, the ways of Providence nscrutsbe, and
all obliged to submit to them; they impera
tive and oyerue u.s. however unwilling the obedience
which we yield to them.
1t becomes my painful duty to to you, Mr.
Speaker and to this House the DEATH since the adjourn
men of the last session of Congress- of Of its honor
ed membership death OF Hon. JOHN A. QUITMAN, of
Mississippi.
am before you, sir the living example that he is no
sent here by the constituency which honored him
to fill, as well humby may do, the place which they
regarded so well filled by himself
Death, under all circumstances and in whatever
1t approaches ns IL always melancholy thing but
when it heraldng with it sad tdings the fall of
great aud good man. Il imprcsscs us with the solemny
of the warning and Ellis the heart of the country with
grief no die Is lways sad thing 1t is to leave the
beauties and glGies Of this world and the enchantments
o an exiseEee here, the only one we know of to be
trascrrel 10 another which may he bright and beauti
ity has yet looked upon.
But II Is not my purpose to dwell upon this. 1t has
been the custom in all ages and among all people, to
pay tribute the distinguished dead and propose in
few words TO perform this service to the memory of
General QrTMAY.
General QumNAN left this city few days after the adj
ounment of the last session of Congress- feeble in health
but not apprchcnding himself it apprehended
by his friends, that he to meet with I'M
timely end He arrived at his home the goth of June
and was not able afterwards to leave it; and in one
month and three days from the time of his departure
from the scenes OF his public duties here the evening
of the 18th of July, at five aud half o'clock, he died
at his residence in Mississippi He of the opinion
himself that his disease contracted at the National
Hotel in this city, from infection which prevailed
there two years ago from unknown cause where ho
resided for time, and afterwards accustomed to
accept the hospitality of his friends And whether this
be true not yet he believed that he inhaled the poi
con there, contracted the disease which us q slow
consuming fire, preycd upon his vitns until they fell into
decay, and his life perished with them.
General QufTNAs native of New York, born at
Rhnebeck in Duchess county the lst of September,
l799 and fifty nine years OF age at the time OF his
death. He was of German descent, his father DR..
Frederick Henry Quitman being native Of Prussia of
German origin, and after his removal to this country
an officiating minister of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church at Rhinebeck. General QpTMAs himself was
educated for the ministry but pursuing the inclination
of his own mind his arrival at years deter
mined for himself upon the profession of the law AT
the age of twenyone, he lct his pateIna homestead to
seek his fortune for himself and, ematipg to the West
remained two years in the State Of Ohio where he be
licensed practitioner of the law. Thence he re-
moved to the State Mississippi pursue his profes-
sion and in 1892 settled at the oy of Nachez, where
In 1924, he married to the accomplished Miss
Turner the present Mrs Quitinan, who with an inter