lence at the National Hotel in Washington on the eve of
Mr. Buchanan's inauguration (1856-57), destroyed many lives. Its
deadly poison undermined the constitutions of some who apparently
recovered health. Of these Mr. Fessenden was one. He regained the
vigor that carried him through those critical years of senatorial work
on which his fame chiefly rests; yet he always felt that he had been
irreparably injured by the insidious attack. The irritability and
impatience which he occasionally displayed in public and in private
came undoubtedly from suffering which he bore with heroic endurance
through the years when his public burdens were heaviest.

--His death was announced by his successor, Lot M. Morrill, who
delivered an appreciate eulogy upon his character and public service.
Mr. Sumner bore testimony to the greatness of his career in the Senate.
"All that our best generals were in arms, Mr. Fessenden was in the
financial field," said the Massachusetts senator. Describing Mr.
Fessenden's "extraordinary powers in debate--powers which he commanded
so readily," Mr. Sumner said, "His words warmed as the Olympic wheel
caught fire in the swiftness of the race. If on these occasions there
were sparkles which fell where they should not have fallen, they cannot
be remembered now." This reference was well understood. Mr. Fessenden
and Mr. Sumner were never cordial. Members of the same party,
supporters of the same general measures, with perfect appreciation and
with profound respect each for the other, it seemed as impossible to
unite them cordially, as in earlier days it was to unite Adams and
Hamilton in the ranks of the Federalists.

--Mr. Fessenden had maintained a brilliant reputation for a long
period. When Mr. Webster, at the height of his senatorial fame, made
his celebrated tour through the Middle and Western States in 1837, he
selected Mr. Fessenden, a young man of thirty, as his traveling
companion,--selected him for his brilliancy, when he had choice of the
brilliancy of all New England. Mr. Garrett Davis, a senator from
Kentucky, in his eulogy of Mr. Fessenden, referred to Mr. Webster's
visit to that State, and described the warm greeting which Mr.
Fessenden received, the deep impression made upon him by Mr. Clay's
hospitality at Ashland, and the impression which the young man made
upon Mr. Clay, with whom he thenceforward became a marked favorite.
Mr. Davis and Mr. Fessenden met not long after as members