MR. WEBSTER'S CHARACTER.

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and it is quite remarkable, that I never heard from his lips a single unkind allusion to any of those whom he might naturally regard as, in some degree, his competitors for political advancement. After the moment of heated conflict had once passed by, he seemed always both to forgive and to forget all the irritating collisions which had occurred. In proof of the exceeding kindness and magnanimity of his nature, I will cite a single evidence, but one that shall be conclusive. Mr. Calhoun was, of all the eminent statesmen who were in public life at the same time with Mr. Webster, and who were occasionally thrown into serious and painful conflict with him, undoubtedly the most potential. These gigantic champions of opposite and hostile political creeds were, in truth, for a long period the veritable Achilles and Hector of the Senate; yet, upon the sudden decease of Mr. Calhoun in the summer of 1850, behold what his truly high-minded and chivalrous opponent said of him! No knight of the Middle Ages, not Sir Philip Sydney himself, nor the world-renowned Bayard, nor even the famous Black Prince, when holding King John of France as a prisoner of war, could have been expected to display a more highbred courtesy, a more manly and tender sympathy toward a former adversary, or a more generous oblivion of former contentions in arms, than is evinced by Mr. Webster in the following beautiful effusion. Let the puny and heartless traducers of entombed greatness, whom our own unfortunate times have temporarily brought into notice, read the funeral eulogy pronounced by this august son of New England on the occasion referred to, and blush, if indeed the sense of shame has not become en

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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.

'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.

"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."