country, and the confidence of his
own State, as we have recently seen, by his being called from that
honorable retirement to take part in the grave and solemn duties of
this assembly. Sir, he came among us in obedience to the solemn call
of patriotic duty, at a most exigent and distressing period in our
national annals. He came here on an errand of peace, in the spirit of
peace and conciliation. Such was the feeling entertained toward him by
the whole of this assembly, that without the slightest preconcert, so
far as I know, he was invited by general consent to preside during the
preliminary stages of the organization of this Convention. I had an
opportunity, from time to time, of private conversation with the aged
statesman. I found no member of the assembly I met here, and, indeed,
I have found nowhere any citizen of this wide Republic of ours, whose
heart was more deeply imbued with the spirit of conciliation and of
peace--of that spirit which was so solemnly and impressively uttered
in his last prayer, "May the Union be preserved." Sir, it is not
given to mortal man to choose the manner of his death; but if such
were the privilege accorded to any human being, what more glorious end
could he, appreciating a true fame, covet, than that which has been
the lot of our departed friend? Sir, I speak what I feel, and I dare
say I express a sentiment which has impressed itself upon many other
bosoms in this assembly, when I say that his sudden death in the midst
of our deliberations, seems to me to exalt--in some degree to
canonize--our labors. This manifestation of the visible hand of God
among us, brings us in the immediate presence of those solemn
responsibilities which attach themselves to the discharge of our
duties here. I doubt not that every member of this assembly is already
deeply impressed with the solemnity of those duties, and I feel
convinced that there are few, if any, in this assembly, who would not
lay down their fleeting and feverish existence, and follow our
deceased brother to his final account, if by doing so they could
restore peace and harmony to this glorious Republic of ours.

It does not become me to make any professions of devotion to my
country--to my whole country--but this I will say, in the spirit of
the last prayer of my friend, that I should regard my poor life, such
as it is, a cheap purchase--the cheapest imaginable purchase--for that
great boon to our country, the restoration of its peace