Year: 1859

Body of Senator BrOderick.


CITIZENS OF CALIFoRNIA:-A Senate
lies dead in our midst! He is wrapped
!, in a bloody shroud and We, 10 whom hi


tolls and cares were given, are about t,
bear him to the place appointed for all th
living. 1t is not fit that such man shoulc
! pass to the tomb, unheralded; it is not Fl
that such life should steal unnoticed tC
its close; it is not fit that such deatf


should call forth no rebuke, or be surround
ed BY no public lamen,ation. 1t is thi.


conviction which impels the gathering o


this assemblage. We are here of every


creed and character, each in his capacity


of citizen, to swell the mournful tribute


which the majesty of the people offers to


the unreplying dead. He lies to day sur


rounded by little of funeral pomp. Nc


banners droop above the bier, no melan.


cholly music floats upon the reluctant air.


The hopes of high-hearted friends droop


like fading flowers upon his breast, and the


struggling sigh compels the tear in eyes


that seldom weep. Around him are those


who have known him best and loved him


longest; who have shared the triumph,


and endured the defeat. Near him are


the gravest and nc blest of the State, pos


sessed by grief at once earnest and sin


cere; while beyond, the masses of The peo-


pie that he loved, and for whom his life


was given, gather like thunder cloud of


swelling and indignant grief


In such presence, fellow citizens, let US


linger for moment at the portals of the


tomb, whose shadowy arches vibrate TO the


public heart TO speak few words of the


man, of his life, and of his death.


Mr.. Broderick was born in the District
of Columbia in 1919; he was of Irish de-
scent and of obscure and respectable pa
rentage; he had little of early advantages,
and never summoned 10 his aid a COM
plete and finished education. His boy
hood, as indeed his early manhood, was
passed in the city of New York, and the
loss of his father, early stimulated him to
the efforts which maintained bis surviving
mother and brother, and served also to fix
and form his character even in his boy
hood. His love for his mother was his
first and most distinctive trait of character,
and when his brother died an early and
sudden death, the shock gave serious
and reflective cast to his habits and his
thoughts, marked them to the last hour of
bis life. He was always filed with pride,
and energy, and ambition; his pride was
in the manliness and force Of his character,
and no naaa had more reason. His ener-
gy was manifest in the most resolute strug-
giles with poverty and obseurity, and his
ambtioa impelled him to seek foremost
place in the great race to honorable power.


Up to the time Of his arrival in Califor.
mia his life had been passed amid events
incident to such a character. Fearless,
self reliant, open in his enmties, warm in
bis friendships, welded to his opinions,
and marching directly to his purpose tl,ro'
and over all opposition, his career was
chequered with success and defeat. But
even in defeat his energies were strength
ened and his character developed. When
he reached these shores, his keen obsersa-
ton taught him at once thai he trod
broad field, and that big er career was
before him. He had no false pride
sprung from people and Of race whose
vocation was labor, he toiIed with his own
hands, and sprang at bound from the
workshop to the legislative hall. From
that hour there congregaled around him |
and against him the elements of success
and defeat. Strong friendships, bitter en-
mites, high praise, malignant cslumnies,
but he trod with free and proud step
that onward path which has led him to
glory and the grave.


1t would be idle for me, in this hour,
and in this place, to speak of all that his
tory with unmitigated praise; it will be
idle for his enemies hereafter 10 deny his
claim to noble virtues and high purposes.
When in the Legislature he boldly de-
nounced the special Legislation, which is
the curse of new country. and lie proved
his courage aud bis rectitude. When he op-
posed the various and sometimes successful
schemes TO strike out the salutary provi-
sions of the Constitution which guarded
tree labor, he was true to all the better in
stincts of his life. When prompted by his
and admiration of his friends, he
first sought seat in the Senate of the
United States, he sought the highest of all
positions of legitimate effort and failed
with honor.


1t is my duty to say that, in my judg-
ment, when at later period he sought to
anticipate the Senatorial election, he COM
mitted an error which l think he lived to
regret II would have been violation of
the true principles of representative govern
ment, which no reason, public or private,
could justify, and could never have met the
permanent approval of good and wise
men. Yet, while l say this over his bier,
let me remind you of the temptation to
such an error-of tie plans and reasons
which prompted it-of the many good
purposes il was intended to effect. And if
"the last infirmity of noble
minds" led him for moment from the
better path, let me remind you how nobly
he regained it.


1t is impossible TO speak, within the lin
its of this address, of the events of that
session of the Legislature at which he was
elected TO the Senate of the United States;
but some things should not be passed in
silence here. The contest between him.
self and the present Senator had been Bit