The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-04-25

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whose decease we now mourn spoke, in
unbrokcn health and strength, of the life
and many virtues of his late illustrious
associate in terms of great fulness and
rare beauty; but how remote from him
was the suspicion that in SO brief time
his survivors would be called upon TO
delineate his own character, his private
worth and public services, not less con-
spicuous, and though much unlike, moving
in orbits widely apart, equally meritorious
: Seldom has any State been represented by
the same Senators for so long time, and
still more seldom so fittin9ly represented
by those of so much cminence and unqucs-
toned integrity and ability
My colleague Mr.. Woodbridge has
so happily and eloquently portrayed the
history of Senator Foot, while others have
so generously acknowledged his worth,
that little more remains Tor me to con-
tribute. Like many men who have risen
TO distinction in after life, Ito copy his
own language applied 10 another,) che
owed nothing at all TO the factitious aids
or the accidental circumstances Of birth
Or fortune or family patronage" Having
lost his father at the early age of seven
years, he was indebted to an excellent and
pious mother for his early training and
instruction and for the foundation of those
high-toned principles of honor and intcg-
rity which always guided him as pri
vate citizen and distinguished him as a
public man. Not born to afilucnce, he
was while yet boy taught the lesson Of
earning his bread by the sweat of his
brow. An incident at this time shows
that his ambition had early been touched
by the ethereal fire.
man with whom he lived for a short
time, when about fourteen wears of age,
sent him with team TO ''drag" in some
seed sown the previous day. Along in
the middle of the forenoon the team was
discovered without driver, and the work
accomplished dappeared very inc)nsiderab bic.
AT last young Foot was found in corner
Of the fence lying flat on the grass. To
the question as to what he was doing
there he replied, 81 am thinking what l
shall say when get to be member of
Congress" Thus ''the child is the faith
er of the man" If any of these field
thoughts ever found utterance in Congress
they had not to wait much longer than
those said TO have been conceived in the
early morning on the ramparis of Quebec,
and which many years after embcllishe1
one of the most memorable speeches of
Daniel Webster
While yet young man, Mr. Foot Of
ten represented Rutland, the place OF his
residence, in the. Legislature Of Vermont,
and nearly as often was made Speaker of
the House of Representatives; and here he
first displayed his extraordinary aptitude
for the discharge of the duties of a presi-
ding officer over a deliberative assembly.
This flculty was soon discovered and
early recognized in the Senate of the
United States, where he was repeatedly
elected to the Office of President pro
tempore, and where he was perhaps more
frequently called to the duties of the
chair than any other Senator. 1t is just
10 say that much of the dignity ascribed
as well as properly pertaining to that
branch of Congress may be credited, for
the last fifteen years 10 Senator Foot's
high example of d,corum, or order, and
thorough knowledge of parliamentary
routine. lie dispatched business with
admirable promptness, with equal fairness
and grace; and he held at all times both
Senate and the galleries under complete
control by his commanding presence and
his most unmistakable emphasis His
call 70 order, like the sound of IA trumpet,
was heard and needed. From his decis-
ions Of parliamentary law there was no
appeal asked or desired. His dignified
bearing and urbanity daring his service in
the chair, as W Il as in the faithful dis
charge of all other senatorial duties, his
massive features and courtly manners,
will cause him to be associated with and
long remembered as prominent figure
Il representative man-of the Senate of
the United States lie will also be re-
membcred as one of the last of those who
entered the field of statesmen while the
great men fthe last Webster,
Clay, and Calhoun-yet fingered on the
stage.
His speeches while in this House on
the Mexican war, in lS46-47, were able
and fearless expositions of its origin and
character, and received the hearty ap-
proval Of large proportion of the north.
crn people. In the Senate not all of his
speeches have been reported in the Globe /;
certainly one Of his best never appeared,
for the reason that he retained the report
for revision until it was too late to be
inserted. His patriotism infolded his
whole country, and bidding defiance to all
party ties, when the honor and glory of
his country seemed imperiled, he reused
all the energies of his impassioned nature
and rushed to the rescue, This temper
appeared in his speech in 1856, on ihe
Central American question, when Eng
gland exhibited her traditionary ambition
for universal empire, by her pretensions
connected with Honduras. lie said:
"standing in opposition as do to the present
national Admnstra ton; differing from it as
do most widely and radically upon almost every
question of domestic policy | am the more
happy in being able to accord to it the tribute
worthless though it may be. of my sincere and