Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-12-18


GARTRELL, were appointed 4 Committee c:
Conference on the part of the House.
On motion Of Mr.. MILES, the House thcn
adjourned.
WEDNESDAY. DEC. Iii, ISIS.
SENATE.
The Senate met at II o'clock. Mr.. HGSr~
Err, of Va, President pro tenn, in The Char,
Prayer by Rev. Robt. Ryland, Of the Baptist
Church.
Mr.. BARNwELL, of S. c., moved that lion.
Howell Cobb, late President Of the Provision
al Congress, be allowed the privilege q! tie
floor of the Senate. Carried. a. the sugg'S-
ton. of MIR. CLARK, of NO., the motion was
made to embrace Governor Harris, Of Ten
nessee, and Governor Halves, Of kentucky.
A message was SeceiTcd from the House,
announcing the passage Of Senate bill TO pre-
vent the employment Of substitutes IN the
army, with an amendment striking out the
clause repeating all acts authorizing subs.i'a'
ton. The House amendment being agreed to,
the bill became law. subject to the approval
of the President.
MIR. CLAY, of Ala, rose to announce the
death of Hon. VIM. L. Yancey, late Senator
| from Alabama:
Mr.. PRESIDENT rise to discharge the sad
and solemn duty of announcing the death OF
! my late colleague and friend, the Hon. William
Lowndes Yancsy. Never was moro startled
than by the Geographic communication o. his
death. Never was more deeply impressed
| with the vanity Of mans life, the ehoTtDcSs Of
his forecast, and the folly of his calculations
| upon the future. When he lcf; us about III"
close of tho last session of Congress his appa-
rently good health aad complete possession o;
all his physical powers aSd mental faculties,
his compact frame and active'and energetic
habits, his strong will and hopeful spirit, all
gave promise Of many years of life and o:
useful and honorable labor. None of us then
thought that he had gone never TO return; that
I ro should novbr moro boar sliro thrilhpS tones
| Of his voice or bee his flashing eyes end hciT-
ing chest az he poured forth the full tide o: his
ardent feelings in language which always
aroused the mind and stirred the heart, even
| when it failed to convince the judgment. hnc
yet, within three months from that time, he
was called hence to that ficsai q dgmcat which
awaits as all hereafter. On the 27th NJ july
| last, at his home, near the capital city OF Ale
| bama, in the 10th year Of his age his spirit
fled from its earthly tenaipent 10 the God clio
gave it.
| William Lowndes Yancey Was born at III"
Shoals of Ogeshee, in the State Of Georgia,
during a visit of his mother to her parents 81
that place. His parents resided in Charles
ton, South Carolina, which! he alwars regard
ed and spoke Of IS his mother STATE. Has
inther, Benjamin, Yancey, was born in South
| Carolina, and at the early age OF thirty-two
when he disd) had established q Reputation,
as a :jurist, and an advocate scarcely Inferior
to that Of any lawyer in the STATE, and vas
esteemed the intellectual peer of his great
cotcmporar;es Calhoun, McDuiiie. Lowndns
and Cbeyes His mother was :, Miss Bird
OF Virginia, and was also gifted with superior
understanding. lie thus had double claim
on nature for those extraordinary abilities with
| which she endowed Him. His academic edu-
cation was commenced in South Carolina, an':
completed ut williamsburg, New York IL
read law at Sparta, Georgia and Mt Green
vile, South Carolina. but before CONF! enc;ng
| its practice, or attaining his majority, he
married and removed to his plantation, near
the latter place: lie removed to Alabama III
the fall of 1888, and resided, successfully 1t
Cahaba, Wetunpka and Montgomery. In
1871 he was chosen to represent the County
of Coosa in the House Of Representatives OF
the Legislature Of Alabama, and afterwards
to represent the district composed Of that
courtyard of Antangs.in the State Senate
In 1874 he was elected by the district, formed
partly by those counties, to represent it in'the
United States Congress- Before the cxr;sa.
ton Of his term Of service no resigned ard re-.
turned to Montgomery, Alabama. Although
an active participant in the struggles OF the
political arena, and several times chosen 10
represent the party, Of which he was dis
tinguished member, in conventions. he Glfcd
no Office after leaving the United STATES Con.
gress until the institution of the Provisional
Government of the Confederate States wien
he was chosen by the President Com
missioner to represent our government ut tho
Court of Great Britain. During the long in
teryal from 1874 to 1861 he devoted himself
to the practice Of law, in which he acquired
en- independent estate, and a high. reputation
as an advocate In the fall of 1861. ard
while he WIS absent in Europe, he was elect
ed without opposition, and BY au.almost unanl'
nous vote, a Senator Of the Confederate States
from Alabama
These are the prominent events of Mr..
Yancey's life. propose nov to speak of his
distinctive traits Of character, and Of the role
he played in the grand drama Of humanity
It is, sir, difficult and delicate task to do no
more nor less than justice to the distinguished
dead. ! think athe experience of most men
who have attained eminepce, especially in
politics, would attest that the hardest penalty
they paid for distinction was in being misuin-
derstood and misrepresented. And although
their selflove might not admit it, yet think
most public men have been quite as much
misunderstood and misrepresented BY their
friends as by their enemies. Envy and adml-
ration generally follow abreast those they
cannot overtake in the race of f'rtune, and
the adulation of the one is scarcely less un-
Just and mischieyous than the detraction OF
the other. Hence, among the many pnra-
doxes Of human life, none is worthier Of credit
than that contemporary historians are less
trustworthy than those Of subsequent times
No man, sir, was the object of more detrac-
ton or of more laudation than Mr.. 1ancey.-
No. man had bitterer enemies or warmer
admirers. His death is too recent for either
to regard him only as historic character. |
shall endeavor to speak Of him with as mu"h
candor and impariality rs can be exercised
by personal and political friend, who was
himself an actor in the same exciting scenes
for more than twenty years, who sympathised
with him in his political sentiments, and who
retains grateful recollection of many acts OF
kindness done by him, such rs few men hare
the ability or the disposition to perform. |
cannot vindicate his claim to the esteem and
gratitude of his country as fully as / desire
without giving more elaborate history of
his life and 8 more minute analysis Of his
moral and mental qualities than the occasion
xvo,rJr{o Th;o IN tha dutv of hia hiopra- |