As a lect, like a great New England rock repelling a New England wave. writer, his productions will be cherished by statesmen and scholars while the English tongue is spoken; as a Senatorial orator, his great efforts are historically associated with this chamber, whose very air seems yet to vibrate beneath the stroke of his deep tones and his weighty words. On the outer circle sat Henry Clay, with his impetuous and ardent nature, untamed by age, and exhibiting in the Senate the same vehement patriotism and passionate eloquence that of yore electrified the House of Representatives and the country. His extraordinary personal endowments, his courage, all his noble qualities, invested him with an individuality and a charm of character which, in any age, would have made him a favorite of history. He loved his country above all earthly objects. He loved liberty in all countries. Illustrious man!—orator, patriot, philanthropist-his light at its meridian was seen and felt in the remotest parts of the civilized world; and his declining sun, as it hastened down the west, threw back its level beams in hues of mellowed splendor to illuminate and to cheer the land he loved and served so well. All the States may point, with gratified pride, to the services in the Senate of their patriotic sons. Crowding the memory, come the names of Adams, Hayne, Mason, Otis, Macon, Pinckney, and the rest-I cannot number them—who, in the record of their acts and utterances, appeal to their successors to give the Union a destiny not unworthy of the past. What models were these, to awaken emulation or to plunge in despair! Fortunate will be the American statesmen who, in this age, or in succeeding times, shall contribute to invest the new hall to which we go with historic memories like those which cluster here. And now, Senators, we leave this memorable chamber, bearing with us, unimpaired, the Constitution we received from our forefathers. Let us cherish it with grateful acknowledgments to the Divine Power who controls the destinies of empires and whose goodness we adore. The structures reared by men yield to the corroding tooth of time. These marble walls must moulder into ruin ; but the principles of constitutional liberty, guarded by wisdom and virtue, unlike material elements, do not decay. Let us devoutly trust that another Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger chamber this Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the Representatives of American States still united, prosperous, and free. MINISTERS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE................ MEMBERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.......... PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS............. |