The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1859-01-26
An Eloquent Extract.

The following eloquent extract is from
n speech by Vice President Breckenridge
on the occasion Of the removal of the U.
s. Senate into their new chamber.
The Senate is assembled for the last
time in this chamber. Henceforth it viii
be converted to other uses; yet it must
remain forever connected with great events
AMI sacred tothe memories of the depart
ell orators and statesmen, who have en-
gagged in high debates, and shaped the
policy of their country. Hereafter the
Ainecican and the stranger, as they wan
der through the Capitol, will turn with
distinctive reverence to view the spot on
Nshichs so many and great materials have
accumulated for history. They will re-
call the images of the great and the good
whose renown is the common prosperity
of the Union; and chiefly, perhaps, they
will linger around the seat once eccpied
by the mighty three, whose names and
tlme-associated in life-death has not
been able to sever; iustrious men, who
in their generation, sometimes divided,
r sometimes led, sometimes resisted public
opinion-for they were of that higher
class of statesmen who seek the right and
follow their convictions.
J, There, sat Calhoun the Sen ,tor-in-
flexible, austere, oppressed, but not over
whelmed by his deep sense of the inpor-
lance of his public functions-seekino the
truth, then fearless!y following it; a man
whose unsparing intellect compelled all
his emotions to harmonic wi the 1educ-
tons of his rigorous logic, AMI whose
noble countenance habitually wore the
expression of one engaged in the perform
ance of high public duties.
This was Webster's seat. He, too.was
every inch a Senator. Conscious of his
own vast powers he reposed with conf
dence on himself and scorning the con-
trivaeces of smaller men, he stood among
his peers al the gre a;er for the simple
dignity of his sentorial deme NOR. Type
of his northern home, he rises before the
imagintion in the grand and granite out
line of his form and intellect, like a great
New England rock. repelling New Eng
land wave. As writer his productions
will be cherished by statesmen and schol-
ars while the England tongno is spoke.
AS senatorial orator, his great eff, TT,
are historically associated with this cham.
Der, whose very air seems vet to vibrate
beneath the strokes of his deep toms and
his weighty words. III -
On the outer circle, sat Henry CLAY.
with his impetuous and ar lent nature un
tanned by aga, and exhibiting in the Sen.
ate the vehement ratr,o m and passion.
ate eloquence that, of yore, electrified the
House of Representatives and the coun-
try, His extraordinary personal endow
nents, his courage-al his noble quail
ties invested him with an individuality
and charm of character which in anv
age would have made him q fayorite Of
history. He loved bis country above oil
earthly objects. He loved liberty in all
countries. lllustrious man Orator, PAL
riot neutrality-suspicious. light at its
meridian was seen and felt in the remo-
test parts OF the civilized world; and
s whose declining sun, as it fastened down
the West, threw back its level beam in
hues of melowod splendor to illuminate
and to cheer the land he loved and served
so well.
Dc All the States may point with gratified
pride to tho services in the Senate of
Their patriotic sons. Crowding the men,
DRY come the nam of Adams. Havne
Mason, Otis, Macon, Pinckney, and the
rest cannot number them-who. in
the record of their acts and utterance. ap-
peal to their successors to give the Union
destiny not. unworthy of the past.
What models were these to awaken emu
latIon, or to plunge in despair! Forum
ate will be the American statesmen who
IN this age, or in succeeding times shall
4, contribute to invest the new ball to which
we 90 with historic memories like those
which clust here.
And now, Senators we leave this mero-
orai.ie chamber, bearing with us, unp,-
paired, the Constitution we received from
our forefathers. Lit us cherish it with
grateful acknowledgment to the Divine
Power who cont: the destinies of en-
. plres, and whose goodness we adore.
70 Ihe structures reared by men, Wild to
the corroding tooth of time. These mar
bic walls must moulder with ruin; but
principles of constitutional liberty, guar
ded by wisdom and virtue, unlike matcri
@ al elcrn'nts, do not decay. Let us devout-
arly trust that another Senate, in another
ase, shall bel to a new and larger cham
Der this Constitution vigorous and lnvio-
lateEani that the last generation of pos
terlty shall witness the del b rations of
the representatives of American States
= stlll united, prosperous and FREQ.