Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-02-10

ON THE DEATH OF SENATOR MATT CARPENTER
DELIVERED IN THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES,, JAN. 20, 1882.
Mr.. Speaker, it is fitting that the repre- sen.
tatives Of great republic should pause for a
day in their accustomed duties TO eulogze the
character of a departed statesman and to in
vite the living to emulate his example. We
need also to remind ourselves that we are NOR
tai. In the rush and excitement Of public
life, we can hardly believe that death may
come and seize those who seem the strongest
and best-equipped for the contest Public
men, elated by temporary distinction, forget
how soon a new audience will greet new ac-
tors how soon their words and deeds will
fade from memory.
The eternal surge
or time and tide rolls on, and bears afar
our bubbles
The power which appoints our lot is mex
orable. Death is common to ali 1t neither
passes by the humble nor treats t. c great with
homage.
Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede paup, rum tabernas
Regumque turres.
Though Senator Carpenter SER, i only eight
years in the senate and died Viii. yet in the
prime Of life, he made for himself an endur-
ing reputation and placed his in the gal
axy of Americas eminent sta men. But,
distinguished as he was IN the bails of legis-
lation, he perhaps won a more a liable fame
as constitutional lawyer in tne supreme
court Of the United States. lie vas a master
of the legal science, and natural orator.
The people of his native county well remem-
Der his early efforts at the bar aud the prom
ise he gave of forensic achievements, since
then so well fulfilled. Richly gifted in mind,
with voice of marvellous power and sweet
ness, and with such models before him as Dill
ingham of Vermont and Choate Of Massacbu-
sets, his early instructors in the law, the way
to high distinction az public speaker opened
easily before him. Alas! while We speak his
silvery voice is hushed, the fires of his won
derfu genius for earth are quenched forever
The state of which have the honor to be
a representative comes with her young sister
of the West TO bring her Offering to his men,
ory, because he was great lawyer and states
man, an eloquent orator, a man OF the kind
lest nature and also because he was born
and passed his childhood and youth among
her green hills because she watched with in
tense interest and pride his brilliant career
from its beginning until its close, and because
she honored him as her own son.
1t was fayorite theory with the ancient
Greeks that their ancestors sprung directly
from the earth, and their love Of country was
greatly intensified by the belief that their ma
tive land was literally their mother. On the
occasions when they pronounced funeral ora
tions and performed sacred rights in honor of
their heroic dead, they first eulogized the land
that gave them birth. Every country pro-
duces its men and stamps upon them its own
characteristics 1t is proverbial that dwellers
| in mountainous lands are lovers OF freedom,
/ aud 1t is doubtless true that Senator Carpen-
ters native state, of which an early poet said-
/ Ts rough land Of rock and bill aud tree,
where dwells no titled lord, no cabined slave,
Where heart and hand and tongue are free
| gave him something of the vigor of thought
and independence of character for which he
became distinguished.
/ This is an occasion for eulogy, an occasion
| to testify to the worth of deceased states
man, 10 express personal regard and appreci-
! alton Of valuable public services by him rem
/ dered, rather than to critcise his character.
! Aud this is just eulogy-that Mr.. Carpenter
/ possessed intellectual faculties of great power
and brilliancy, and that he also had genius
| for labor. He did not trust to luck or artifice
ormere ingenuity for his success. His speeches
in the senate and on the platform, his briefs
and arguments in the courts, are evidence of
severe mental toll. He realized that
The heights by great men won aud kept
! Were not attained by sudden flight;
| But they, while their companions slept,
] Were toiiug upward IN the hght.
1t may also be justly said of him, as was
said OF Lord Mansfield, that he was animated
by sincere desire to be of service to his
country and by noble aspiration after hon
orable fame. In future years, when those
who inherit his name read of his public
and professional work ''in records that de-
fly the tooth of time, especially his e1posi-
tions of the constitution of his country, they
will have the proud satisfaction of knowing
that this end of a most laudable ambition was
| reached.
To US it seems that Senator Carpenters
death was premature-thAt his llfework was
incomplete. When we think Of the possibili-
ties of his genius, we deeply regret that he
could not have lived to old age, his powers
unfolding with the unfolding y cars,
TIL, like ripe fruit be dropped
Into his mothers lap or was with case
Gathered, not harshly pueked for death mature,
rather than that his light should have gone
out in the zenith of its splendor. And yet
few names will stand higher on the roll of
American lawyers than that of Matthew Hale
Carpenter, and few men indeed have passed
into the great future more respected by polit-
ical opponents or better loved by friends than
he. And there is consolation in the belief
that the mind never dies that its powers are
only transferred to higher and broader sphere
of action that
There is no death
To the living soul, nor loss, harm