tirely extinct in their cold and icy bosoms, over the consciousness of their own deep and ineffaceable dishonor.

"I hope the Senate will indulge me in adding a very few words to what has been said. My apology for this presumption is the very long acquaintance which has subsisted between Mr. Calhoun and myself. We were of the same age. I made my first entrance into the House of Representatives in May, 1813. I there found Mr. Calhoun. He had already been a member of that body two or three years. I found him there an active and efficient member of the House, taking a decided part and exercising a decided influence in all its deliberations. From that day to the day of his death, amid all the strifes of party and politics, there has subsisted between us always and without interruption, a great degree of personal kindness.

แ

'Differing widely on many great questions respecting our institutions and the government of the country, those differences never interrupted our personal and social intercourse. I have been present at most of the distinguished instances of the exhibition of his talents in debate. I have always heard him with pleasure, often with much instruction, not unfrequently with the highest degree of admiration.

"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever association of political friends he was thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius and of commanding talent. All the country and all the world admit that. His mind was both perceptive and vigorous; it was clear, quick, and strong.

"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner in

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which he exhibited his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual character; it grew out of the qualities of his mind; it was plain, strong, terse, condensed, concise; sometimes impassioned, still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his power consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner. These are the qualities, as I think, which have enabled him, through such a long course of years, to speak often, and yet always command attention. His demeanor as a senator is known to us all—is appreciated, venerated by us all. No man was more respectful to others, no man carried himself with greater decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think there is not one of us, when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate, his form still erect, with a voice by no means indicating such a degree of physical weakness as did in fact possess him, with clear tones, and an impressive and, I may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel that he might imagine that we saw before us a senator of Rome survived.

"Sir, I have not, in public nor in private life, known a more assiduous person in the discharge of his duties. I have known no man who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or employed less of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate discharge of his duty. He seemed to have no recreation, but the pleasure of conversation with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, he was either devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the immediate subject of the duty before him, or else he was indulging in those social interviews in which he so much delighted.

แ

My honorable friend from Kentucky (Mr. Clay) has spoken in just terms of his colloquial talents. They certainly were singular and eminent. There was a charm. in his conversation not often equaled. He delighted especially in conversation and intercourse with young men. I suppose that there has been no man among us who had more winning manners, in such an intercourse and such conversation, with men comparatively young, than Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character, in general, was his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well as a consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to the people of the, state to which he belonged.

"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis, of all high character, and that was unspotted integrity and unimpeached honor. If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble. There was nothing groveling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he espoused and in the measures that he defended, aside from that large regard for the species of distinction that conducted him to eminent stations for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a selfish motive or selfish feeling. However he may have differed from others of us in his political opinions or his political principles, those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under the sanction of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to

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connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is now an historical character. Those of us who have known him here will find that he has left upon our minds and our hearts a strong and lasting impression of his person, his character, and his public performances, which, while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in his age, that we have been his contemporaries, that we have seen him, and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak of him to those who are rising up to fill our places. And when the time shall come that we ourselves must go, one after another, to our graves, we shall carry with us a deep sense of his genius and character, his honor and integrity, his amiable deportment in private life, and the purity of his exalted patriotism."

CHAPTER II.

Early colonial Settlements in North America.-Character of the People very nearly identical. - Similitude of Customs, Language, Religion, Laws, and Mode of Life.-No Conflict of Sentiment then between the Colonists of the North and South in regard to African Slavery.-Testimony of Mr. Greeley on this Point.-Kindly social and commercial Intercourse between the Colonists North and South. Their united Defense of the infant American Settlements against Indian Violence and the hostile French.-Early Suggestion of a confederate Union between all the British Colonies in North America.-Strange Interpretation of a Portion of the Language of the Declaration of Independence. -Mr, Jefferson's important Statement as to the Action of the Confederate Congress in regard to Slavery at the Time the Declaration was adopted. Mr. Webster's important Recital of historic Facts connected with this Subject in his 7th of March Speech.

THOSE who are best acquainted with the early history of our forefathers upon the American Continent will be most inclined to concur in the opinion that, though the various colonial settlements effected by them were made under circumstances which upon a superficial view might be regarded as materially different, and though the course of historic events in these settlements was not uniformly similar, yet that, in regard to all those influences which were to impart a distinctive character to infant communities, there were no such radical diversities as, to a philosophic mind, would have been held worthy, in the least degree, of grave and thoughtful consideration. In all the colonies the same language predominated. In all of them the same religion prevailed, and in most of them the same