There is more than one thing in his legislative career which deserves notice, and not the least is the manner of his death. He died poor-not poor in the common sense of the term, but poor as was Aristides when he was buried at the expense of the citizens of Athens. Amongst all his papers, there is not found the trace of a speculation. He had no property-no resources; his poverty, if remarkable, was honorable. In a land where corruption is said to be rife, the more especially in legislative bodies, and which, whether the charge is true or false, is proverbially liable to corrupting influences, it seems impossible that he used the vast power he po. sesed for aught except the public interest and welfare. And this alone would be a proud epitaph to record upon his tombstone. He was a man of undoubted courage, as his death proved. I am not here to speak of its manner. I am not here to discuss the subject of dueling. If I were, it would be to utter my unqualified condemnation of the code which offers to personal vindictiveness a life due only to a country, a family, and to God. If I were, under any circumstances, an advocate for a duel, it should be at least a fair, equal, and honorable duel. If, as was said by an eloquent advocate in its favor, "it was the light of past ages which shed its radiance upon the hill-tops of civilization, although its light might be lost in the dark shade of the yalleys below;" if even I held this view, I should still maintain that a duel should be fair and equal; that skill should not be matched against ignorance, practical training against its absence. And while I am in no sense to be understood as expressing an opinion as to the late duel, knowing nothing of the matter myself, yet I do say that no duel should stand the test of public opinion, independent of the law, except the great element of equality is there. In the pursuits of common life, no one not trained to a profession is supposed to be a match for a professional man in the duties of his profession. I am no match for a physician in any matters connected with his pursuits, nor would the physician be a match for me in a legal argument. The soldier is no fair match for the civilian, when the latter has not been trained to the use of arms; nor, although his courage is equal, and he may have a profound conviction that he is right, will, therefore, the contest be rendered equal and just. I repeat that I do not make these remarks intending thereby to reflect upon the character of the late duel. Personally, I know nothing more than what I and you all have heard. Whether it was fair or unfair, it is not my province to inquire. I am denouncing the system itself, for it loses annually hundreds of valuable lives, and in the present state of civilization, it does no good, profits nothing, arrests no evil, but impels a thousand evils; but above all, do I protest against any contests of this nature where, in skill, knowledge of weapons, or from any cause, the parties are not equals in all the conditions of that stern debate. The friend whose loss we deplore was undoubtedly a man of courage. Whatever may be said with respect to the code of dueling-whatever may be said as to his motives-his conduct on the field was in all respects what his friends expected. He stood four fires, at a distance of scarcely

twenty feet, with a conviction that there was a strong determination to take his life-that the matter should be carried to an extremityand that, too, when, until the day before, he had never fired a pistol off in his life. But courage is shown not merely in action, but in endurance. A woman may show the higher quality of courage in many instances where many men would fail. A brave man-a really brave man-shows his courage no less in endurance than in action. It is a higher, a greater quality to suffer than to do; and in this respect our friend was no way defective. He bore a long and painful confinement-he bore a severe operation-he saw his hold upon life unclasping day by day, hour by hour; and amidst it all, neither his resolution nor his cheerfulness faltered for an instant. When he lay helpless, looking back upon the errors (and who has not errors?) of his life, he seemed to recall them for lessons of instruction and warning for the future; and when he knew he must die, he arrayed himself for the last contest, to die as became a man, amid all sweet and pious and holy recollections. He died with no vindictive passion in his heart. He died with words of affection upon his lips. He died with the thoughts of his mother present to his soul. He left this world with the thoughts of home and mother. He left with words of forgiveness and kindness. His last act of consciousness was an act of prayer.

Oh! Affection, Forgiveness, Faith! ye are mighty spirits. Ye are powerful angels. And the soul that in its dying moments trusts to these, cannot be far from the gates of heaven, whatever the past life may have been. However passion or excitement may have led a soul astray, if at the last and final hour it returns to the lessons of a mother's love, of a father's care-if it learns the great lesson of forgiveness to its enemies-if at the last moment it can utter these words: "Father of life and light and love!"-these shall be winged angels-troops of blessed spirits-that will bear the fainting, wounded soul to the blessed abodes, and for ever guard it against despair. Oh, my friends! those mighty gates built by the Almighty to guard the entrance to the unseen world, will not open at the battle-axe of the conqueror; they will not roll back if all the artillery of earth were to thunder forth a demand, which, indeed, would be lost in the infinite regions of eternal space! but they will open with thoughts of affection, with forgiveness of injuries, and with prayer.

But I am not here to speak of the virtues of the departed alone. He had his defects; they were great; they were marked; but they were incident to his career and his character. He was, by nature and habit, a politician; and of all callings, that of a politician is the most illusive and unsatisfactory: it kindles the mind in a state of constant excitement: it is a constant struggle, which is frequently injurious in its effects; and our friend, with all his fine qualities, was no exception to the rule. Let him that is without sin cast the first stone. Of how many can we say that no greater defect can be recorded? Of him who is dead, what worse can be said? He was honorable, honest, loving, generous, placable; and if amid his virtues, there were some defects, they are but to be mentioned to be forgiven

and forgotten. Fellow-citizens, the words I utter I should not deem complete if I did not, before I close, utter a word of warning. The most powerful intellect, the most amiable qualities, may be shaded by a love for excitement and the evils which the life of a politician is but too apt to engender. What Ferguson was, we know. What he might have been, if he had conquered himself, who can tell? The inspired book says that "he that ruleth his own spirit is greater than him that taketh a city," and if our departed friend could have conquered himself, who could have stayed the resistless course of his bright intellect? It should be a warning to us all, grey heads as well as to young men. All should remember that the pursuit of politics is delusive and full of temptation. No man should forget the duty he owes to his country, but all should remember that they owe a duty to themselves. When men-I refer now more particularly to young men-see a great statesman stand forth in the midst of a listening Senate, and mark the stamp which he makes upon the public mind and upon the policy of the country by the force of his intellectual vigor, they are apt to forget the labors by which that proud position has been achieved-to forget how many have sought to attain such a lofty position and have failed; and to forget that he who is now filling their minds with admiration, may be on the eve of a sudden fall! Politics should not be the pursuit, I mean the only pursuit, of any man. Representative honors, official station, should only be the occasional reward, or the occasional sacrifice; and if, forgetting this rule, young men attempt to make politics their only hope, with the probability that in many cases they will fail, and that if successful, they will surely be exposed to a thousand temptations: if they love excitement for its own sake-the noisy meetings, the conventions, the elections-this love for excitement will grow upon them, and they will soon be on the high road to ruin.

If any one is determined to achieve distinction in politics, let him first obtain a competency in some trade, profession, or pursuit, and then, even if unsuccessful in politics, the misstep will not be irretrievable. But, young men, do not be beguiled by the example of our Ferguson, even if you possess his splendid talents-even if you could achieve the success he did: look at the end! There he lies in a bloody grave. Let your habits be fixed. habits be fixed. "Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country's and thy God's.'

Fellow-citizens, I have said what I supposed this occasion most required. If I had been told sixteen years ago that it would be my fortune to stand by the bloody grave of my young friend, in the city of Sacramento on the Pacific coast, I could scarcely have believed it had an angel from heaven told me so; for at that time there was no civilized Pacific coast. Then his course was unmarked, and my future was so marked out, that it would seem but little less than a miracle that I should stand here, by his dying request, to offer a few poor remarks over his bier, before he is laid to rest in the place he loved so well-in the city named after the sweeping Sacramento. But who can tell what a day may bring forth? Here we see the sudden, untimely end of one who was amiable, gifted, and who was

looking forward to a long career of honor and fame. And perhaps it may be my lot to be shortly laid in the grave; and perhaps in this assembly some one may be called upon to address some remarks over my poor lifeless body-even as I have been called upon on the present occasion; and if this should be so, I pray that that friend may accord to me as much of praise and as little of blame as will be consistent with the truth.

In conclusion, I would remark that I have no words sufficient to express my own personal regret. I have lost a warm personal friend. I may find others, but I shall not be able to find friends that I have loved in other years. I shall not often find those to whom I can, as I could to him, talk of the old familiar times and the lessons I taught him in early life- of the virtues and example of his parents-of his mother's, his poor afflicted mother's affection and love-of his old contests-his old hopes, so often broken. I shall not often find friends like these, nor can the breach which death has made be so easily repaired.

Let me hope, for myself and us all, that when we have filled our allotted space in this world; when we are attended by weeping friends, for the purpose of removing us to our last resting place, that it shall not be said of us that we have lived without purpose, but that we have gathered friends in the days of our manhood; that we have left fruits to bloom when we have departed.

DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF HON. WM. I. FERGUSON,

Delivered in the Congregational Church, Sacramento, Cal., Sept. 16th, 1858.

BY REV. J. A. BENTON.

"Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him."II. SAMUEL, iii. 34.

The worst has been realized. The poor mangled corse of our senator lies before us. Others may have felt the same: I certainly have feared from the first, that it would come to this, and have so expressed myself within a few days. For such were the antecedents, the circumstances, and the shock of the wound he received, that they would have imperiled the life of the most robust man; and they rendered it almost certain that a temperament and a constitution like his, so slender and delicate, would not long survive. And there are many who have been incredulous regarding the reports of his improved condition, as knowing they were premature; because the worst stage of the difficulty was not passed, nor the point of danger turned. When the time for decision came, a careful examination

showed the wound gangrenous, and the parts adjacent moribund. Speedy amputation of the limb afforded the only hope of life; and even that was dim. And such was the severity of the proceeding, though the sufferer was under the influence of anaesthetics, and such his physical prostration, that his powers did not rally again nor his senses return. And so his eyes were closed upon the light of life, and he passed unconsciously away.

We shall look upon him no more. Three or four short weeks have sufficed for all this. A month ago the deceased was here among his friends, in his usual health, vigor, and activity. He was uncommonly spirited, cheerful, and energetic. He was in his element; in the exercise of some of his peculiar faculties, which always came out with remarkable force in the midst of a political excitement. He went to San Francisco to remain, as he supposed, but a few days. There he fell into a personal and political controversy; gave some offence to his opponent; was challenged to mortal combat; stooped to the acceptance of the proposal; fell at the fourth fire, and was carried from the field badly wounded. After four weeks' absence, and three of lingering and suffering-of alternating hopes and fears-he is with us once again; but only in these lifeless remains, which have come to be garnered, as treasures, in the burying place of those who in his life had delighted to do him honor.

It saddens us to know that we shall no more look on his familiar features, so finely chiseled, so exquisitely moulded, so handsomely combined, so vivacious in their play, and so expressive of the varied emotions of the soul. The full brain that wrought under that fine brow and capacious forehead, throbs no more. We cannot see again the rare head and face that, but for an early thinning out of the hair, had been more than beautiful: they were even grand. The hands, the feet, the skin, the movement, the tone, as well as the features, all were expressive of fine sensibilities, genius, and character. None could behold him and not be impressed. None could turn away and quickly lose that image from his memory.

It saddens us more to think in what a conflict our senator came to his untimely end, and by what a process our community has been deprived of his services in the coming years.

From the Christian standpoint, no duel can ever be justified; nor any party thereto. This is conceded on every hond, and so positively that it never is expected that a professing Christian will ever send or accept a challenge; and he is always exempted from the operation of the code of honor" without loss of reputation, or the disparagement of his spirit, bravery, or courage.

From the standpoint of society, there is offered somewhat that may palliate, if it cannot justify, the practice of dueling. It is alleged that there are some personal offences of which the civil law takes no cognizance, or against which it affords no adequate protection; that, therefore, there must be some social law, to the usages of which such cases shall be referred; and that the "code of honor" is such law, and the practice of dueling the best method of arbitrament yet discovered. To support these allegations, the instances