e
appointed for the funeral."

President Polk issued a Proclamation announcing to the nation its
bereavement, and directing the suspension of all public business for the
day. The public offices were clothed in mourning. Orders were issued from
the War and Navy Departments, directing that at every military and naval
station, on the day after the order should be received, the honors
customary to the illustrious dead should be paid.

At 12 o'clock on Saturday, the 26th of February, the funeral took place in
the capitol. It was a solemn, an imposing scene. The Hall of
Representatives was hung in sable habiliments. The portraits of Washington
and La Fayette, the beautiful statue of the Muse of History in the car of
Time, and the vacant chair of the deceased, were wreathed in crape. In the
midst, and the most conspicuous of all, was the coffin containing the
remains of the illustrious dead, covered with its velvet pall. The
President of the United States, and the Heads of Departments, the Members
of both Houses of Congress, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Foreign
Ministers, Officers of the Army and Navy, Members of State Legislatures,
and an immense concourse of the great, the wise, and the good, were
present, to bestow honor on all that remained of the statesman, the
philosopher, and the Christian.

A discourse was delivered on the occasion, by the Rev. R. R. Gurley,
chaplain to the House of Representatives, from Job xi. 17, 18--"And thine
age shall be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt shine forth, thou
shalt be as the morning: and thou shalt be secure, because there is
hope." The following are extracts from the sermon:--

"In some circumstances, on some occasions, we most naturally express our
emotions in silence and in tears. What voice of man can add to the
impressiveness and solemnity of this scene? The presence and aspect of
this vast assembly, the Chief Magistrate, Counsellors, Judges, Senators,
and Representatives of the nation, distinguished officers of the army and
the navy, and the honored Ambassadors from foreign powers,--these symbols
and badges of a universal mourning, darkening this hall into sympathy with
our sorrow, leave no place for the question, 'Know ye not that a prince
and a great man is fallen in Israel?' Near to us, indeed, has come the
invisible hand of the Almighty--that hand in which is the soul of every
living thing, and the breath of all mankind; in this very hall, from
yonder seat,