The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-05-23

elephants of Pyrrhus.
Il is only in such conflicts of duty with
ambition that true heroism liz manifested
aud the nobleness of a great nature dis-
aspiration points in the same direction,
but when, the hour of sacrifice comes
when dagger and darkness. gather ABOUT
the former, and the promises OF glory are
linked with the latter, it's then that true
courage is evinced and trne berolsm asseTts 3
it's ascendency. 1t is the nrm Dut ia.a'
step of the martyr who takes his position
aS the stake and stands undaunted when
fagg0ts are piled around him, ana the
cracking flames separate the hesh from the
soul which scars away, too great anu NO.
BILE for its tenement of clay. -
A philosophic historian, In exploring the
records of men, has remarked tha5 .nere
are few characters which have stood the
closest scrutiny and the severest tests;
which have been tried in the furnace and
have proved pure which have been
weighed in the balance and not found
wanting; which have been declared sterl-
ing by the general consent OF mankind,
aud which are visbly stamped Wild the
image and superscription of the Most
High But when some future Macaulay
shalt narrate the events of our bloody
drama, and reproduce the portraits OF those
who were it's most conspiciods actors, ne
will find indelibly stamped npen the charac-
ter of Breckenridge both the image and the
superscription of God.
His mind was one of those rare gifts of
nature which is capable of contracting It.
self to the hum blest duties or Of expanding
itself to the highest requirements OF human
effort. We see him, the leader OF q great
party, condescendipg to become the com
mander of q small brigade, and declaring
that he was ready to shoulder his musket
with his sons and become private In the
r :nb hn OF haa N
commanded. After having been Secretary
of War and directing The movements OF all
the armies of Confsderacy that Numbered
for four years for peace at the gates OF the
North. and more than once llghteo lts
campfires in the foreground of washington,
he offers his services to the sheriff OF Fay
cite county to put down the petty disorders
of a precinct.
But he was greatest on the greatest occa-
sions In the council at Charlotte Court
house, which determined upon the surren-
der of the slouched and dispirited remnant
of a once powerful army, as we'll as on the
bed of death, he still possessed the stoutest
heart and the most infiexible courage.
Since the war he has Stunned politics and
avoided all expressions which might
Augment the burdens of people in defense
of whom he bad fought and for whom he
had shown HE willingness to die. he
readily distinguished what was accidental
and transitory in politics from what was
immutable and essential, and, while ready
to adjus old institutions to new state OF
society, despised that vulgar herd who are
always willing to barter the most sacred
principles of human liberty for the mere
pittance of temporary success. he preserved
throughout the Wilderness of his coal, and
pursued course which showed him as
great in defeat as in victory. as noble IN
neglect as in the most elevated station He
Q In in n
Der of death. When ply sicians were bend
ing with heavy hearts over his emaclated
and broken form 4; when relations and
friends were choked with sobs and convuls-
ed with the agony of so great loss when
there were burryings to and fro and trem.
blings of distress, he alone was calm and
resolute. He died as he had lived, the
same intrepid and imperial spirit, conquer.
ing first the adverse agents of fortune, and
at last disarmipg death of its terrors. Nov
he lies in Lexington, 80 cold aud still, the
ruins of the noblest man to whom Kentucky
has ever yet given birth.
But what shall we say ola mind 80 gifted
and a genins so commanding As reason
er and logician he was the equal of any
adversary of his time. As rhe5oriclan and
an orator he was perhaps the superior. But
he never allowed the latter TO overshadow
the former. In parts Of his best argume to
in the Senate, during WHICH his feelings
were excited by conflict, he finds vent for
bursts of patriotic and poetic rapture, but
he was the master and not the slave of his
emotions. The vivid imagery which adorn-
ed his speeches never impaired their
strength or obscured the clear com mon
sense on which they were based. He was
massive without being heavy, and graceful
without being weak. He who reads his
speech on the removal of the Senate from
the old chamber to the new, and his reply
to Andy johnson just previous to his with
drawal from the Senate, will find an illus
tratiOn of what we say. The one
Would have made Quintilian stare aud gasp"
the other would have captivated and con-
WINGED a bench of august judges. He was
not only a statesman and an orator, he was
also soldier. His was the mind to grasp
extensive military plane, and his was the
courage to execute them with q calm and
noble valor. elf had an army" said Gen.
Lee, "I would at once put it under his
command" We have indeed tried TO recall
a character in history which we might COM
pare with his own. Bat we have failed.
He combined so many of the best qualities
of the great and good who lived and died
hpfnra him cannot. without Ii ffi-