Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-01-20
yice.President Breckenridge ON Departed
Statesmen.

The following is nm extract of the eloquent adj
dress of Vice President BRECKENRIDGE, made on
Tuesday, On the occasion Of the departure of the
scnotors from the old to the new chamber in the
national capitol:
"Tbe Senate is assembled for the last time in
tb;s chamber. Henceforth it will be converted to
other uses vet it must remain forever connected
v;tb great events, and sacred to the memories of
,be departed orators and statesmen who have en-
oooed in high debates. and shaped the policy of
their country. Hereafter the American and the
stranger rs they wander through the capitol, will
turn with instructive reverence to view the spot on
which 30 many and great materials have accumu.
lated for history. They will recall the images OF
the great and good, whose renown is :he common
property of the Union and chiefly. perhaps, they
will lincer around the seats once occupied by the
mighty three whose names and fame-associnted
in ife-death has not been able to sever; illustri-
Gus men who, in their generation, sometimes divi-
ded. sometimes led, and sometimes resisted pub.
lie opinion-for they were Of that higher class Of
statesmen who seek the right and follow their
convictions.
There sat Calhoun, the Senator nfcxible, aus
tere; oppressed, but not overwhelmed by his deep
sense of the Importance Of his public functions
seeking the truth, then fearlessy following it; a
man whose unsparing intellect compelled all his
emotions To harmonize with the deductions OF his
rigorous logic and whose noble countenancs hab
itually wore the expression of one engaged in the
performance Of high public duties.
This WAS Wehstsr's seat. He, too. was every
inch n Senator Conscious of his own vast powers,
he reposed with confidence on himself and scorn
ing the cnntrvnnces of smaller men, he stood u
mong his peers all the greater for the simple dig
ntv Of his senatorial demeanor. Type Of his
northern home he rises before the maginarion in
the grand and granite outline of his form and in
trllect. like a great New England rock repelling a
New England wave. As writer, his productions
will he cherished by statesmen and scholars while
the English tongue is spoken. As n senatorial
orator. his great efforts are Historically associated
with this chamber, whose very mir seems yet to
yibrate beneath the strokes of his deep tones and
weighty words
On the outer circles sat Henry Clay, with his
impetuous and ardent nature untamcd by age,
and exhibiting in the Senate the same vehement
patriotism aud passionate eoquence that of yore
electrified the House of Representatives anu the
country His extraordinary personal endowments,
his courage-al his noble qualities, invested him
with nm individuality and charm of character
which, in any age. would have made him favor
ite Of history. He loved his country above all
earthly objects. He loved liberty in all countries.
Illustrious man !-orator, patriOt, philanthropist
whose light, at his meridian, was seen and felt
in the remotest parts of the civilized world: and
whose declining sun, as it fastened down the West,
threw back its level beams in hues Of meilowed
splendor 10 illuminate and to cheer the land he
loved and served so well.