and read of all men.

The most distinguished accession to the House was John J. Crittenden
of Kentucky. He had never before served in that branch, but he
had been chosen to the Senate six times by the Legislature of his
State,--for five full terms and for the remainder of Mr. Clay's
term when he retired in 1842. Only one other man, William E. King
of Alabama, has ever been so many times elected to the Senate.
Mr. Crittenden, like Mr. Clay, entered the Senate at thirty years
of age. His service began the day that Madison left the Presidency,
and ended the day of Lincoln's inauguration. But in this long
period he had served only two full terms, and his total service in
the Senate was little more than twenty years. He resigned in 1819
"to get bread for his family," as he expressed it; the compensation
of a senator for the session of Congress not averaging at that time
more than nine hundred dollars per annum. He resigned in 1841 to
become Attorney-General in the Cabinet of Harrison. He resigned
in 1848 to run for Governor of Kentucky in aid of General Taylor's
candidacy, and he left the governorship in 1850, after the death
of Taylor, to accept his old position in the Cabinet. He was
appointed to the Supreme Bench by John Quincy Adams in the last
year of his administration; but the Senate, already under the
influence of the Jackson men, refused to confirm him. Mr. Clay
wrote to Mr. Crittenden in anticipation of his failure, bidding
him "cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst event."

Mr. Crittenden's ability was of a high order. He stood at the head
of that class of statesmen who were next to the highest grade.
Like so many other eminent Whigs, he was excluded from the full
recognition of his power by the overshadowing prestige of Mr. Clay
and Mr. Webster. The appearance of Mr. Crittenden in the House in
his seventy-fourth year was his patriotic response to the roll-call
of duty. He loved his country and his whole country, and every
effort of his waning strength was put forth in behalf of the Union.
It was his influence, more than that of any other man, which saved
his State from the vortex of Rebellion. But for his strong hold
upon the sympathy and pride of Kentucky, the malign influence of
Breckinridge might have forced the State into the Confederacy.
Mr. Lincoln considered Mr. Crittenden's course entitled to the
admiration and gratitude of every man who was loyal to the Union.