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in characters of enduring honor, demands of me to declare that, but for his courageous and discreet conduct as president of the Convention in 1850, great and widespread mischief would inevitably have ensued from the action of that body. The telegraphic reports which were received in Washington during the pendency of the measures of compromise, notifying the friends of the Union in Congress of the happy effects resulting from the decided action, and sage and healing counsels of Judge Sharkey, supplied seasonable and essential aid to those who were struggling to consummate the work of national pacification then in active progress; and it is highly gratifying now both to remember and to record that President Fillmore was so impressed with the great value of the service which Judge Sharkey had rendered to the Union cause while presiding over the deliberations of the Nashville Convention, and was so well persuaded of his general merits and qualifications, that he did not hesitate, on this gentleman's arrival in Washington a few days subsequent to the adjournment of that body, to tender to him the office of Secretary of War, which station Judge Sharkey modestly, but with a grateful sense of the honor intended to be conferred upon him, thought proper to decline. This worthy personage has been recently elected by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi to the Senate of the United States, where I venture to predict, upon a more than thirty years' acquaintance with him, his career will be as brilliant and useful as his reputation in private life is stainless and exemplary.

I should fail to do justice to the great mass of American population at this critical conjuncture did I not

CITY OF NEW YORK.

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mention the fact that large public meetings were held in every part of the republic, at which eloquent speeches were made and patriotic resolutions adopted, of a nature to supply the most important assistance to those who were struggling to keep the ship of state steady and erect amid the conflicting winds then raging. In the great commercial emporium of the republic, New York, movements occurred during the summer of 1850 which a grateful country can never cease to bear in kind and respectful remembrance. A grand popular assemblage was held, where a large proportion of the intelligence and wealth of the city were represented; resolutions approving in the most enthusiastic terms the efforts of those in Congress engaged in the work of national settlement were adopted, and a committee of safety, numbering one hundred persons, and composed of some of the most enlightened and influential men on the continent, was appointed, which labored afterward incessantly, in every practicable mode, to aid in the preservation of a Union which was felt to be far too precious to be left exposed to the dangers then besetting it on all sides, and which it was evident could be only rescued from ruin by the combined efforts of all who truly loved it, and who were yet willing to struggle for its preservation.

CHAPTER IX.

Omnibus Bill under Consideration.-Strenuous Opposition of General Taylor's Administration to its Adoption.-Last Appearance of President Taylor in Public on the 4th of July, 1850, at Monument Square, in Washington City, and touching Scene which occurred there.-General Taylor's Decease a few Days thereafter.-Mr. Webster's eloquent Funeral Notice of him.-Mr. Fillmore's Inauguration as President, and efficient Support of the Compromise Measures.-Official. Order found on General Taylor's Table after his Deccase, ordering the forcible Expulsion from New Mexico by the Military of Texan Settlers.-Mr. Clay's heroic Remonstrance against this coercive Policy, which he regarded as needlessly endangering the Union.-Fierce Opposition to the Compromise Measures on the Part both of Extremists of the North and Extremists of the South.-Terrible Struggle over the Omnibus Bill in the Senate, which is finally broken into Fragments mainly by the Indiscretion of its own Friends, but the integral Portions of which finally pass both Houses.—The Country quieted under the Influence of this Measure.-Sage and firm Conduct of President Fillmore in causing the Compromise Enactments to be every where faithfully executed.-Celebrated Rescue Case in Massachusetts, and interesting Proceedings in Congress in Connection therewith.

THE Compromise measures, in the form of an Omnibus Bill, as it was called at the time, were under discussion in the national Senate, and various questions connected with the proposed “plan of adjustment,” as Mr. Dallas, in a letter to myself, written about this period and published in the newspapers, more aptly entitled them, were calling forth much acrimonious discussion in both wings of the Capitol, when General Taylor very suddenly died, early in the month of July, 1850. The last time I saw this fine

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specimen of the honest, blunt, strong-minded, resolute, but, it must be confessed, somewhat self-willed and obstinate soldier of the backwoods, was on the Fourth of July, at what is known as the Washington Monument, where I had the honor of delivering, by request of the patriotic association formed for the purpose of erecting the same, the customary anniversary oration. President Taylor and his cabinet had all come forth on this occasion, far more, I am sure, to render deserved homage to the memory of the august Father of his Country than to listen to the feeble and unworthy effusion to which they were about to give respectful audience. Never had I seen him look more robust and healthful than while seated under the canopy which sheltered the speaker and the assembled concourse from the burning rays of an almost vertical sun. After the address had been concluded, he kindly beckoned me to approach him, cordially offered me his hand, and tendered me his thanks for what I am painfully sensible very little merited such a complimentary notice; though I am gratified to know that those who may now choose to look over that same speech will at least find it replete with the most fervent Union sentiments, and the most enthusiastic wishes for our country's happiness. I think that the veteran President added,

Why will you not always speak in this way?" a kind and patriotic implication of rebuke, which I will not undertake now to say was altogether unreasonable, and from which I hope I did not fail subsequently, in some degree, to profit. In a day or two more the hero of so many battles had gone to his long home, and a grand public funeral was awarded him. The following appropriate and pathetic

speech was delivered by Mr. Webster in the Senate, on the occasion of presenting resolutions in notice of his demise:

"Mr. Secretary, at a time when the great mass of our fellow-citizens are in the enjoyment of an unusual measure of health and prosperity throughout the whole country, it has pleased Divine Providence to visit the two houses of Congress, and especially this House, with repeated occasions for mourning and lamentation. Since the commencement of the session, we have followed two of our own members to their last home; and we are now called upon, in conjunction with the other branch of the Legislature, and in full sympathy with that deep tone of affliction which I am sure is felt throughout the country, to take part in the due solemnities of the funeral of the late President of the United States.

"Truly, sir, was it said, in the communication read to us, that a 'great man has fallen among us.' The late President of the United States, originally a soldier by profession, having gone through a long and splendid career of military service, had, at the close of the late war with Mexico, become so much endeared to the people of the United States, and had inspired them with so high a degree of regard and confidence, that, without solicitation or application, without pursuing any devious paths of policy, or turning a hair's breadth to the right or left from the path of duty, a great, and powerful, and generous people saw fit, by popular vote and voice, to confer upon him the highest civil authority in the nation. We can not forget that, as in other instances so in this, the public feeling was won and carried away, in some de

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