Year: 1865

Some men are born to greatness, some
men achieve greatness, and some men have
their greatness thrust upon them" The
truly great are those who become so by a
wise choice of opportunities, seconded by
ability, will, and moral principle, without
whcn conjunction all effort is vain.


What is greatness? AS understood by
many it is great capacity, extraordinary
talent, vast intellect, and thus we bestow
this appellation upon host whose names
will be examples through all time We say
great because they have attained proud
positions in the world and were authors of
results which more or less influence men
and things, ,at the present But too much have
we worshipped genius and talent, and too
little have we regarded the better qualities
Of the heart in our estimate of character
and in the honor we accord to many who
haye . place in the history of the past
Shining qualities, brilliant achievements,
enlist all our sympathy, and we forget in





good We Judge of those who have gone
before us, as we do of those who are pres
cnt with US, and are 10th to asCribe great
ness to any character who has not founded
great empire or won a great battle, or
shed great sea of blood, or performed
some great act which strikes us with ad-
miration and awe


There is no nation, ancient or modern,
,thc fact may be spoken without an idle
boast, with history so brief as our own,
that may count SO many examples of real,
true greatness. Whatever may be our de-
tinition, our roll is well filled, and we may
safely challenge any nation tC the compar-
ison Of the last hundred years. In the SEN
ate, in the field, in arts and in arms, in lit
erature and in science, our record is full.


In August lS4T, there died suddenly in
his own house, in a little village of less
than thousand inhabitants in one of the
northern counties of the Empire State, in
the iifty-third year of his life, man, who
as much as any one of his age and period,
deserved the appellation of great He was
born to poverty and with his own hand
earned the means to carry him through col
lege Without patron, or friends, or family
influence, without other aid than his own
indomitable energy and will, he became
college graduate, a student at law, a coun-
try magistrate, surrogate of the country,
state senator, Comptroller of the State,
Senator in Congress, and Governor of the
Empire State. He refused nearly as many
Offices as he filled, to wit place in the
Cabinet Foreign Minister, Vice Presi-
dental nomination, and Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States. This
man was SIAs WRIGHT.


For four years he was State Senator. 1t
was during period when party spirit ran
high, yet his political honesty was never
i doubted. AS a member of the Court for
the correction of Errors, he acquired the
happy gift OF faculty Of discovering truth,
though encumbered with error, and that
power Of clear analysis, which ever after
was most valuable guide in the arena of
national politics. After service of four
years in the Senate, he became again the
village lawyer, and though solicited by par
tial friends to remove to the city where
broader field invited, he refused. But the
State of his adoption now soupht to do him





of great monetary disaster to manage her
finances, and though surrounded with diff.
culties he succeeded He adhered strictly
10 literal construction of State law, avoid
ed III every respect creation of new state
debts, and in SO doing, acquired the epithet
OF barn-burner. His term of office as Comp
troller was not finished when the Legisla-
ture elected him Senator in Congress. He
was now in the zenith of his fame. The
village lawyer had become member of
the most distinguished political body known
10 the American Constitution, and in some
respects, to the world-a loftier position
save one than that occupied by any other
'"'i' 'iuaI-the compeer OF the talented and
renowned of the Western Continent. How
well he discharged his senatorial duties let
,ne journals speak let them say too how
,i'eraI his construction of Constitutional
law, and how strictly he adhered to the
Denocratic principle, and above all lei
'lem declare how close and compact his
argument in debate.


, he had served nearly sixteen years as
'1ha'or in Congress when the great strug
5'e between Clay and Polk for the Presi
ro4'y came on. 1t was felt by all that the
'D'e ol New York would determine the re
l' ana IT was also felt that Polk coult
:; .;'' carry 1t alone. The National Conven
"'n that nominated Polk had turned il,