Huntsville gazette., 1889-03-02


on which success or failure, wealth or penury,
honor or obliquy depends At this crisis and
1uncture, when every instant is priceless,
the Senate resisting every inducement
ana solicitation, proceeds by unanimous con-
sent, to consider resolutions of the highest
photographed from no committee, having
no place on any calendar, but which takes pre-
cedence OF unfinished business" and especial
orders;' on which the yeas and nays are never
called, and on which no negative vote has ever
been recorded; and reverently passed in obedi-
ence to the holiest impulses OF human nature
TO contemplate the profoundest mystery Of hu-
man destiny-the mystery of death. In the
democracy OF death all men, at least, are equal.
Here is neither rank nor station nor preroga-
tive, in the republic of the grave. At that fatal
threshold the philosopher ceases to be wise and
the song of the poet is silent; at that IA
tai Threshold Dives relinquishes his million
ana Lazarus his rags. The poor man
Is as rich as the richest, and the
rich man is as poor as the pauper. The creditor
loses his usury, and the debtor is acquitted OF
his obligation. The proud man surrenders his
dignity; the politician his honors; the world
ling his pleasures. Here the invalid needs no
physician, and the laborer rests from unre-
Quited toll: here, at least is natures final de-
cree in equity. The equity in fate is refuted.
The wrongs of time redressed and injustice
is expiated. The unequal distribution of
wealth, OF honor, capacity, pleasure and oppor-
tunty which make life SO cruel and inexplica-
BILE tragedy, ceases in the realm of death,
The strongest has there no supremacy, and the
weakest needs no defense. The mightest cap
tain succumbs to that invincible adversary.
who disarms alike the victor and the van
Quished. James Nelson Burnes, whose life
and virtues we commemorate to-day, was
man whom Plutarch might have described and
Van Dyke portrayed. Massive, rugged and ro-
h,,et nr11
deliberate; grave in aspect, serious IN demean-
or: of antique and heroic mold-the incarnation
OF force. AS looked for the last time upon the
countenance from which (for the first time IN
SO many years. no glance of friendly recogni-
ton, nor word OF welcome came, / reflected
upon the impenetrable and insolube mystery
OF death. But if death be the end; If the life OF
Burnes terminated upon this bank and shoal
OF time II no morning is TO dawn upon the
night in which he sleeps, then sorrow has no
consolation, and this impressive and solemn
ceremony, which we observe to-day, has no
more significance than the painted pageant of
the stage II the existence of Burnes was but
a troubled dream, his death oblivion, what
avails it that the Senate should pause to re-
count his virtues? Neither venerat on nor
reverence due the dead If they are but
dust; no cenotaph should be reared to pre-
serve for posteritty the memory OF their
achievements if those who come after them
art to be only their successors in annihilaton
and extinction. II IN this world only we have
hope and consciousness, duty must be a
chimera; our pleasures and our passions should
be the gu des OF conduct, and virtue is indeed
superstition If life ends at the grave. This is the
conclusion which the philosophy of negation
must accept at last Such is the felicity of
those degrading precepts which make the cpl
taph the end. II the life Of Burnes is as taper
that is burned out then we treasure his memo
ry and his example in vain. And the latest
prayer Of his departing spirit has no more
sanctity TO us who sooner or later must follow
him than the whisper OF the winds that stir the
leaves of the protesting forest or the murmur
of the waves that break upon the complaining
shore.
Eulogies were also pronounced by Sen
ators voorhees,, Hale, Hampton, Coke and
Vest, after which the resolutions were
adopted unanimously, and the Senate,
at 4 AS p. m, adjourned.