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COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS 
 MEMORIAL COLLECTION 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 W. W. FLOWERS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsonannOOconf 
 
CONGRESS OF THE C0Nm5iiRATE STATES. "^ 
 
 •AU^4.AAtw^w 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH 
 
 HOI^/JOH]^ TYLEK, 
 
 JANUARY 20th, 1862. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONGRESS, 
 
 B7 J. J. HOOPER, Secretary. 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 
 ENQUIRER BOOK AND JOB PRESS. 
 
 TTLER, WISE, ALLKORB AND SMITH. 
 
 18G2. 
 
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RESOLUTION OF THE CONGRESS. 
 ■3/7 /i>' 
 
 Resolved, Tliut the Secretary of the Congress 
 cause 2,500 copies of the proceedings of Congress, 
 upon the occasion of the death of Hon. JOHN" 
 TYLER, together with the addresses dehvered, 
 and the funeral discourse of the Right Reverend 
 Bishop Johns, to be printed in pamphlet form, 
 for the use of the House. 
 
 Office of the Secretary of the Congress, 
 
 January 25, 1862. 
 I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was 
 adopted by the Congress, on this day, to wit : The twenty- 
 fifth day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and 
 sixty-two. 
 
 J. J. HOOrER, 
 Secretary of the Congress. 
 
 209610 
 
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 ^^.^^ij* 
 
PRAYER BY REV. DR. HOGE. 
 
 Congress met at 12, M., and was opened with the 
 following prayer : 
 
 With lowly reverence of spirit, and hearts filled 
 with sadness and awe, we come into Thy presence, ! 
 Lord, most high and holy ! We humble ourselves 
 under Thy mighty hand. Clouds and darkness sur- 
 round Thee, but righteousness and judgment are the 
 habitations of Thy throne. How unsearchable are 
 Thy decrees, and Thy ways past finding out. We 
 cannot fathom the depth of Thy infinite designs or 
 scan the wisdom of Thine inscrutable providences. 
 Enable us, then, to feel our helplessness, our igno- 
 rance, our frailty. Make us submissive in the day of 
 Thy power. When we cannot explain the reasons of 
 Thy dispensations, may we be silent. When we can- 
 not comprehend, may we adore. 
 
 This day, Cod, the solemn voice of Thy provi- 
 dence unites with the voice of inspiration to admon- 
 ish, us of the transitory nature of all earthly good. 
 In taking from us one high in office and honor, long 
 beloved and revered, Thou hast sent bereavement not 
 only upon a household, but upon our whole Common- 
 wealth — upon our entire Confederacy. Once more 
 are we admonished that in this world nothing is se- 
 cure, nothing permanent. Here we walk in a vain 
 show, disquieting ourselves in vain ; and amid these 
 
 209(,io 
 
shifting scenes, where disappointment follows expec- 
 tation, and sorrow swallows up our joy, Thou alone 
 remainest undisturbed and unchanging — the only 
 enduring treasure, the only satisfying portion of the 
 soul. 0, help us, at this very hour, to look away 
 from earth, with its unsubstantial and dissolving good, 
 to the world whose joys fade not, whose treasures 
 perish not, and whose blessed inliabitants freed from 
 sorrow and pain, enjoy a repose which is unbroken 
 and eternal. 
 
 Almighty God, Father of Mercies, in Thee all the 
 fountains of consolation are to be found. This day 
 would we bear in the arms of our faith and Christian 
 sympath}^ before Thee those who are most aflected, 
 most afllicted by this event. Be pleased, Lord, to 
 bind up tlie hearts which bleed, and grant that those 
 who now sorrow under tliis heavy stroke of Thy 
 hand may find in Thee ^leir refuge and strength ; 
 their very present help and consolation in this the 
 hour of tlieir anguish. 
 
 Almighty God, grant that all within these walls 
 may derive salutary instruction from this impressive 
 providence. May we feel the necessity of ever living 
 in expectation of the summons which will call us into 
 the invisible state. May we not be so mucli con- 
 cerned about the time and circumstances of our death 
 as about our preparation for it ; so that whether the 
 silver chord is suddenly and unexpectedly loosed, or 
 whether our change shall come with long premoni- 
 tion, it may find us prepared, with our spirits safe in 
 the hands of their lledeemei*, and ready for their 
 entrance into a world of eternal blessedness and 
 glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
REMARKS OF MR. MACFARLAND, 
 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Mr. President : — My colleagues have been pleased 
 to assign to me the sad duty of proposing resolutions, 
 to express the sense of Congress of the great be- 
 reavement ic is summoned unexpectedly to mourn 
 and lament. I wish it were in my power to perform 
 the mournful duty in a manner satisfactory to the 
 sensibilities of Congress and the country. Any an- 
 nouncement of the decease of the Hon. John Tyler, 
 is imperfect and inadequate, fails of giving utterance 
 to the nation's lamentation, if it do not present him 
 as a statesman and patriot, in whom his countrymen 
 delighted to repose their confidence, and who failed 
 not to derive fresh incentives to honor and revere 
 him, from the faithfulness and ability with which he 
 administered every trust. 
 
 John Tyler is an historical name. He was him- 
 self permitted to hear the judgment of his generation, 
 and I might say, of posterity, upon the labors and 
 motives of his life, pronouncing that they were alike 
 elevated and successful. He was the venerable rep- 
 resentative of the memories of a past age, with its 
 
8 
 
 renounced alliances and associations, and zealous and 
 efficient in the reforms and progress, which have 
 made the period of his latter days forever memorable. 
 His fame is indissoluhly blended with the history of 
 his times, and sliall survive the most enduring memo- 
 rials of personal affection, or of public esteem. Live, 
 he still does, and will, in liis example, his deeds, the 
 purity of his public and private life, in his matured 
 counsels and inflexible devotion to Constitutional, 
 Republican Government. However profoundly the 
 blow smote upon our own feelings, " where else could 
 he have been relieved of the yoke of his labors so well 
 as in the field where ,he bore them ?'' 
 
 The time in which he lived was characterized by 
 fierce political and party divisions ; and Mr. Tyler 
 was intrepid in avowing his opinions, and reso- 
 lute in defending them. His career as Chief Magis- 
 trate of the United States, exposed him to pauiful 
 collisions, and demanded of him the exercise of the 
 highest fortitude and intrepidity. He met his trials 
 then, as he did all otiiers, as a good and brave man 
 may, ^vith patience and confidence, in the ultimate 
 vindication of his motives. It was reserved for him, 
 here in his own State, and in her august Convention, 
 to receive the unanimous vote of the entire body, on 
 being proposed as a delegate to this Provisional Con- 
 gress — an emphatic and deserved tribute to the fidel- 
 ity of his eventful life, and to the weight of his 
 character. 
 
 Mr, Presideut, it is' not alone for his statesmanship, 
 and the length and variety of his public services, that 
 Mr. Tvi.Kii will be gratefully remembered, and that 
 admiring memories will fondly revert to, and recall 
 
him. As ill his successive elevation from one high 
 trust to another, until he had compassed the entire 
 round of political preferment, an increase of reputa- 
 tion, fame, homage, met him at every adavnce, so in 
 private life it was his privilege to secure the respect, 
 confidence and esteem of all who approached liim. 
 Of the most obliging courtesy, genial, generous and 
 confiding ; and withal, so engaging for his copious 
 eloquence, his sjnnpathy for his fellow man, and his 
 profound views of the questions which engaged the 
 public attention, all persons were instinctively attract- 
 ed to him, nor did any go away without admiring 
 him. You remember, sir, how the gentlemen of this 
 House were accustomed to cluster around him, and 
 how aflable he uniformly was. Nothing alas ! now 
 remains for us, but the last sad office of mourning 
 friends, to commemorate the afllicting dispensation. 
 I move the adoption of the following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That Congress has heard, with the deepest sensibility, 
 of the death, in this city, on the morning of Saturday, the 18th 
 instant, of the Hon. JOHN TYLER, a member of this Congress,, 
 from the State of Virginia. 
 
 Resolved, That as a testimonial of respect for the memory of 
 this illustrious statesman and honored patriot, the members of the 
 Congress will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days, 
 and will attend the funeral of deceased at 1'2 o^clock to-morrow. 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of one member from each State be 
 appointed to superintend the funeral solemnities. 
 
 Resolved, That the proceedings of this body, rn relation to the 
 death of the Hon. John Tyler, be communicated, by the President 
 of Congre%s, to the family of the deceased. 
 
 Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of ' 
 the deceased, that Congress do now adjourn. 
 
REMARKS OF MR. R. M. T. HUNTER, 
 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 I rise to offer my tribute of respect to the memory 
 of my deceased colleague, with mingled emotions of 
 grief and pride ; of grief over the loss of such a man 
 at such a time, and of pride in the spectacle of a life 
 thus nobly closed, when so full of years and honors. 
 
 The name of John Tyler has passed into history, 
 and has an altar of its own in that great sanctuary of 
 human fame. Its ordeal is over. Nothing now can 
 dim its lustre, as it is borne along the tide of time. 
 It has been said that the story of the humblest life, 
 when rightly told, must afford food for the prolitable 
 study of man. With how much of interest then 
 should we turn to the contemplation of the lives of 
 those who are models of their kind, and who have 
 furnished examples for the imitation of i)()sterity ; 
 of those whose voices have been the most persuasive 
 -and convincing in counsel, or whose shout, like that 
 'of the king, has been most potent hi marshalling 
 hosts for the battle. Of the public men of our day, 
 John Tyler has been one of the most marked and 
 distinguished. With hira disappears the last, but 
 
11 
 
 one, who now sits in this chamber, of those luminaries, 
 who adorned the Senate of the United States, when 
 I first entered upon pubUc Ufe. In him, too, we lose 
 the last of that illustrious line of Southern Presidents, 
 whose names connected us with the hightest honors 
 of the Union, from which we have just parted. Who 
 does not feel an increasing sense of separation as one 
 by one pass away, not only the links of material in- 
 terest, but the ties of personal association which once 
 bound us together. 
 
 Few have filled so completely as Mr. Tyler the 
 whole circle of honors which are open for the aspira-» 
 tion of our public men. He had no sooner attained 
 his majority than he was elected to the Legislature of 
 Virginia. After some years of service there, he was 
 successively made a member of the Executive Coun- 
 cil, a member of the House of Representatives of the 
 United States, Governor of Virginia, Senator of the 
 United States, Vice President of the United States, 
 and, by the death of General Harrison and through 
 the operation of the Constitution, Chief Magistrate 
 of the land. Nor did his public career close even 
 here. When the gathering clouds presaged the storm 
 which is now sweeping over the land, he was called 
 from his retirement to take part as a member of the 
 Convention of Virginia. By the General Assembly 
 of Virginia he was sent to the Peace Congress in 
 Washington, over whose deliberations he presided, 
 and afterwards he was elected a member of this 
 Congress. 
 
 Subsequently, the people of his district elected 
 him to tlie House of Representatives in the Confed- 
 erate Congress, which is soon to assemble in this place. 
 
12 
 
 But, rich as has been his Hie in public lionors, it has 
 not been more distinguished for tliem tlian by its 
 achievements. From the very commencement of his 
 pubhc hte he seems to have distinguished himself in 
 whatever body he was serving, and to have won by 
 his eloquence and ability a leading place in the esti- 
 mation of his associates. A zealous advocate of the 
 doctrines of the State-Rights party of Virginia, he, 
 for the most part, adhered to them consistently 
 through a long and arduous career. No public man 
 of his day labored more earnestly than he did for the 
 preservation of the Constitution ; and he was amongst 
 the first to declare, along with the great Carolinian, 
 that the Constitution and the Union were one and 
 mseparablo. From the period of the first nullifica- 
 tion controversy, from the time when he voted alone 
 in the Senate against the Force Bill np to his last ap- 
 pearance in Washington at the Peace Conference, he 
 seems to have entertained and expressed the opinion 
 that the two must live or perish together. The same 
 sense of the paramount obligation upon every public 
 man to preserve the Constitution followed him into 
 ills administration of the Executive affairs of the 
 United States. Forced to choose between a desire 
 to gratify his personal friends, who had elected him 
 to office on the one hand and a conscientious sense of 
 obligations to preserve the Constitution on the other, 
 he chose to lose his friends, painful as was the sacri- 
 fice, and to discharge his duty in the face of such dif- 
 ficulties as no other President had as yet encountered. 
 From that time forward it was his lot to administer 
 the Government in the midst of some of the severest 
 party struggles ever known in the history of the 
 
13 
 
 country, without the cordial support of either of the 
 great pohtical divisions of the day. But in default of 
 this support he had the sagacity to gather around him, 
 in his Cabinet, some of the first intellects in the land. 
 Calhoun, Webster, Upshur, Legarc and Gilmer, ai<led 
 him to conduct one of the most marked and distin- 
 guished administrations in the history of American 
 affairs. It was this administration which added Tex- 
 as, an empire in territory, to the Confederacy, and 
 which closed successfully in the Ashburton Treaty, a 
 long and complicated negotiation between the United 
 States and Great Britain, upon certain points of dif- 
 ference between them. It was in this administration 
 that Mr. Calhoun's celebrated letter to Mr. King, for 
 the first time, made a public demonstration before the 
 civilized world, of the right of the slaveholding States 
 to respect and protection for their interests. It was 
 this administration, too, which may be said to have 
 dealt the final and fatal blow to the Bank of the 
 United States. 
 
 But, distinguished as was this administration of 
 public affairs, it was, perhaps, not so remarkable as 
 his subsequent career. He had already reached the 
 years of three score and ten, when he left his retire- 
 ment to aid in making up that great issue of human 
 destiny which is now being submitted to a trial by 
 battle between, as it is said, nearly a million of armed 
 men. True to the doctrines of his life-long profes- 
 sion, his first object was to preserve the Constitution 
 and save the Union along with it ; but, wlien tliat 
 hope was gone, none were more decided than he to 
 cut loose his State from its perilous association with 
 enemies in the disguise of friends, and none were 
 
14 
 
 more resolute to make a common cause with the 
 South uimI meet all the consequences of the act. 
 From the day when Virginia made her act of sepa- 
 ration and deliverance comj)lete, up to the time of 
 his death, he had thrown his whole soul into her 
 cause, an<l may he said to h:ivo exhausted his dyhig 
 energies in the eflbrt to maintain and defend it. 
 His colleaf]:;ues, who ai-e here present, will bear wit- 
 ness to the truth of what I say, when I affirm that 
 tliroughout this great struggles, his courage has never 
 quailed, his hope has never faltered, nor has his })ur- 
 pose to fight it out to the last extremity ever relaxed 
 in the slightest degree. 
 
 Mr. President, we may truly sa}^ that, with John 
 Tyler a great man has fallen in Israel, and in that 
 fall a grand career has been closed. The death of a 
 good man is, doubtless, a cause for grief to the 
 friends who survive him. But my colleague was, 
 perhaps, as fortunate in the circumstances of his 
 death as ol' his lilo. As the soldier upon the field of 
 battle, he fell at the post of duty, and when his life 
 was full of years and honors it passed away without 
 a pang. He left us belbi'e age had bowed his frame 
 or dimmed the light of his intellect, and he resigned 
 life when ils lulure course was beginning to promise 
 here more of pain than pleasure. It is true that he 
 did not live to witness the triumph of the great cause 
 iu which he had embarked, Init he had seen enough 
 to feel that its ultimate success was certain. And 
 now that " the fitful fever's o er," let him sleep well 
 in the consciousness of a well-spent life, and of hav- 
 ing nobly discharged his duties to his country. 
 
 To-morrow we shall lav him beneath his mother 
 
15 
 
 earth, on the beautiful bank of the James, where his 
 slumbers shall be soothed by the sound of its falling 
 waters. Day after day for years yet to come the 
 lights of morning and the evening shadows shall lend 
 their varied and silent charms to the quiet scene of 
 his deep repose. After the hour of trial is over and 
 the great work of our deliverance is completed, Vir- 
 ginia, as she leans on her bloody spear to contemplate 
 the past and behold the resting place of her dead, 
 will raise her gauntletted hand to brush away the 
 tear when she sees the grave of that brave old man 
 who left his retirement to stake his fortune, his life, 
 his reputation on the result which was to bring her 
 safety, honor, and freedom. She will embalm his 
 niemory in her affections and hold out his example 
 for the imitation of generations yet unborn. And 
 *his children, and their children's children, will pre- 
 serve his name as an inheritance of priceless value, 
 an heirloom which has already run with their l)lood 
 through more than one generation of men distin- 
 guished for patriotism and virtue. 
 
 Mr. President, it is not my purpose to draw the 
 portrait of the dead. His is a character which men 
 will choose to study for themselves. They will look 
 for it in the monuments of his own creation rather 
 than in the testimonials of his friends. But perhaps 
 I may say, without usurping the historian's office, 
 that he was genial and kindly in all the relations of 
 private life ; that he employed the gift of eloquence 
 with which he was so rarely endowed in the public 
 service rather than for selfish purposes ; that his 
 capacities for usefulness seemed always to rise to the 
 level of the demand upon them ; that he has shown 
 
16 
 
 himself able to discharge high public duties under 
 the most difficult circumstances, .ind that he has 
 served his State witli a love and fidelity which are 
 beyond all praise. 
 
 But, Mr. President, may I not ask, in conclusion, 
 if there is nothing in the present occasion from wliich 
 we may draw a lesson useful to ourselves? Is there 
 nothing in it to deepen our sense of the uncertainty 
 of human life and the instability of human ailairs? 
 Within how short a period has death twice sent its 
 summons in our midst, dealing his blow each time at 
 a shining mark ? Does not this impress us with a 
 sense of the utter worthlessness of the little span of 
 life which is accorded to us, if it be uot used as a 
 preparation for a better and more enduring state of 
 existence ? Surely the scene around us must bring 
 home to us the truth of the great maxim that the 
 duties of life are to be preferred to life itself. 
 
REMARKS OF MR. RIVES, 
 
 OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 I should be wanting, Mr. President, to my own 
 feelings, if not to the memory of our departed friend, 
 were I not to claim the privilege of an older and 
 longer acquaintance with him, perhaps, than any 
 other member on this floor possessed, to add a few 
 words to what has been already so appropriately and 
 eloquently said by my honorable colleagues. It is 
 now somewhat more than half a century since, a 
 school boy in the ancient city of Williamsburg, T 
 first made the acquaintance of Mr. Tyler, then a law 
 student of our common Alma Mater, preparing to 
 enter upon the career of active life. It was thus 
 given me to observe the whole progress of his orb in 
 the heavens from its first appearance above the hori- 
 zon through its meridian brightness and splendor, to 
 its final and serene setting in the Western sky, which 
 we are met this day to commemorate. 
 
 As a young man, when I first saw Mr, Tyler, he 
 was distinguished by the same blandness and cour- 
 tesy of manners, the prepossessing address, and the 
 
18 
 
 graceful and captivating elocution, which we have all 
 seen displayed by him in this Hall. These qualities, 
 tV.e sure j)assp()rt in a government like ours, to popu- 
 lar favor and public distinction, bore him rapidly 
 through a succession of high public employments. 
 As soon as ho was of age, he was elected by his na- 
 tive county of Charles City to the House of Delegates 
 of Virginia. His first session in that body was, if I 
 mistake not, in the memorable 3'ear of 1811-'12, 
 wliich witnessed the bold measure of the declaration 
 of war made by the United States against Great Bri- 
 tain ; and the youtliful legislator became, thus, closely 
 identified with that high-spirited generation of 
 American statesmen, who, succeeding immediately to 
 the great men of the Revolution, and catching, as it 
 were, the mantle of the prophet as it fell from the 
 fathers of the Republic, continued, for thirt}^ or forty 
 years after them, to conduct the affairs of the Union 
 with a patriotism, ability and success worthy of their 
 noble sires. 
 
 In the different representative assemblies of which 
 Mr. Tyler was successively a member, he was brought 
 into contact with the highest intellects of the age. 
 lu the Legislature of Virginia, he was a member of 
 the House of Delegates with Littleton Waller Taze- 
 well, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Charles Fenton 
 Mercer, Robert Stanard, Philip Doddridge, General 
 Blackburn, and many othei's of the most gifted spirits 
 of this ancient Commonwealth. In the House of 
 Representatives of the United States he was contem- 
 porary with Henry Clay, William Lowndes, John 
 Randolph, Henry St. George Tucker, John Forsyth, 
 Louis McLane, and a host of other distinguished 
 
19 
 
 men who then illustrated the national forum. Beins: 
 generally the youngest member of the body to which 
 he belonged, and emulous of distinction, he was 
 stimulated to the highest exertion of his powers by 
 the living models of excellence with which lie was 
 surrounded, and his mind was thus kept in a perpetual 
 progress of development and expansion. 
 
 Trained and formed under these auspices, he* 
 proved himself equal to all the various and arduous 
 posts of public duty to which lie was called by the 
 favor and confidence of his countrymen. In the 
 highest of them all, he gave an honorable proof of the 
 elevation and magnanimity of his character by bring- 
 ing into the leading Executive Departments tlie most 
 towering talents of the country, to aid him in the 
 administration of the Government. The selection of 
 such men as Webster, Calhoun, Legare, Upshur and 
 Spencer, proved how far he was above the operation 
 of any unworthy sentiment of jealousy, or iear of 
 being overshadowed in the public estimation by his 
 official advisers ; while his personal management of 
 several of the most delicate questions of his admin- 
 istration — I refer more particularly to his broad and 
 comprehensive treatment of the question of the an- 
 nexation of Texas, and the firmness with which he 
 upheld the cause of constitutional republican gcnerii- 
 ment in Rhode Island against the outbreak of an un- 
 licensed democracy — attested the large and nialnred 
 statesmanship he had himself acquired in tlic .schools 
 of practical instruction in which he was bred. 
 
 But this is neither the time nor tlie place to enter 
 upon a discussion of the merits of Mr. Tyler's admin- 
 istration of the Federal Government, when, by a sud- 
 
20 
 
 den and unexpected dispensation of Providence, he 
 was placed at the head of it. No one would more 
 earnestly have deprecated the revival of forgotten 
 controversies than himself. Among the qualities 
 which most eminently and honorably distinguished 
 him, was an habitual kindliness of disposition, and a 
 generous appreciation of others, even of those who 
 were his political enemies and opponents. It was 
 about two years ago, in this city, on a public and 
 memorable occasion, he did himself the highest honor 
 by a warm, spontaneous and manly tribute to the 
 character of a great man and deceased patriot,* who 
 had stood towards him in the attitude of a powerful 
 and declared opponent. 
 
 In reviewing the eventful life of Mr. Tyler, we are 
 led, almost irresistibly, to apply to him a descriptive 
 epithet by which the Romans were accustomed to 
 express a quality that ever inspired their confidence 
 and admiration. By that epithet— ^f7/.r — they did 
 not mean to designate a person who was merely for- 
 tunate, but one who, b}^ a happy combination of well- 
 tempered attributes, knew, in a measure, how to 
 command or propitiate fortune. This sentiment was 
 embodied by them in a maxun, tersely expressed by 
 tlieir great satirist — nullum numen habes, si sit pru- 
 dentia. Thus it was with Mr. Tyler. By a rare 
 union of })rudence, good sense and good temper, set 
 off by the natural gifts of oratory and a persuasive 
 address, he won the hearts of the people and secured 
 the favors of fortime ; and success waited upon him 
 in every step of his public career. 
 
 Mr. Clay. 
 
21 
 
 Delegate in the Legislature of his State, represen- 
 tative in Congress, Governor, Senator, Yice Presi- 
 dent, President — he "sounded all the depths and 
 shoals of honor ;" and in every trust he acquitted 
 himself to the satisfaction of his constituents. After 
 having filled, with honor, tlie highest offices of the 
 Government of the Union — which sank, at length, 
 under the degeneracy and corruption of the times- 
 he lived to take a leading part in the establishment 
 of a new Confederacy for the South, which liad all 
 his affections and all his hopes ; and as a member of 
 this House, he gave his anxious labors to the great 
 cause of securing and perpetuating the structure. 
 
 His duties as a member of this body engaged his 
 deepest solicitude. Unwilling to withdraw himself 
 from them for a single day without the proper and 
 formal sanction of the House, he said to me tlie day 
 before the fatal termination of his disease that, if he 
 should be compelled to go home to recruit his health, 
 as he should probably find it necessary to do, he 
 wished me to apply to the House for leave of absence 
 for him. A far higher authority, the great Governor 
 of the universe, has granted him that leave of ab- 
 sence — not from this Hall merely, but from all sublu- 
 nary concerns henceforward forever. He now rests 
 from his labors ; but he has bequeathed to us the 
 rich inheritance of his patriotic example and of his 
 counsels. 
 
 This second admonition of the transitory tenure of 
 human existence, with which, after so short an inter- 
 val, we have been visited in this Hall, reminds us 
 most impressively that " the paths of glory lead but 
 to the grave." But still it is not permitted to us to 
 
22 
 
 repine. "One generation passeth away and another 
 o-enoralion cometh : but the earth abidetli forever." 
 
 o 
 
 Here, wliile we continue, we have our allotted work ; 
 and as those who have gone before us have labored 
 and toiled, so must we, in our turn, toil and labor to 
 carry forward the great schemes of Infinite Wisdom 
 in the moral government of the world, and if we do 
 so in humble submission to the will of Him who 
 ruleth the destinies of men and nations, we, too, shall 
 have our reward. ^ 
 
 n 
 
REMARKS OF MR. WIGFALL, 
 
 OF TEXAS. 
 
 [The Secretary regrets that he is unable to give Gen. WigfalTN 
 eloquent speech. That gentleman was suddenly called to the 
 army, on the very day of the obsequies. The following sketch 
 appeared in the Examiner newspaper. - J. J. 11.] 
 
 Mr. Wigfall followed, in some brief remarks, lie 
 said that he thought it would not be becoming, if 
 some one from the State of Texas was not present to 
 offer testimonies of respect and sorrow to the memo- 
 ry of the deceased, for to no man, living or among 
 the dead, was Texas more indebted than to him. 
 Exhausted by a war of eight ^^ears, and with British 
 Cabinets plotting against her, Texas would have lost 
 her nationality but for the interposition of John Ty- 
 ler, and to him it may be said, that she is indebted 
 for her very existence. 
 
 Mr. Wigfall proceeded to recite the events in the 
 political history of the annexation of Texas, the cre- 
 dit of this addition of an empire to the American 
 Union being attributed, in his statement, to the 
 firmness and perseverance of Mr. Tyler. He ad- 
 verted to his illustrious public service in the affairs of 
 the Confederacy. The speaker had made his ac- 
 quaintance, in Washington, last winter. Mr. Tyler 
 
24 
 
 had come there, hoping to preserve the Union, and 
 he found the Union dead — dead, but lying in state, as 
 his own body here, with pomp and circumstance 
 around it, but the spirit departed. He had returned, 
 to do liis duty to Virginia and tlie South, and it might 
 be said, that it was under his leadersliip, as nuich as 
 that of any other, that that State went out of the 
 Federal Union. To the last, liis life was one of illus- 
 trious service and patriotic devotion, and he had gone 
 to his rest, like the sinking sun on the horizon, leav- 
 ing a very atmosphere of light behind it. 
 
 '^tK^t 
 
REMARKS OF MR. VENABLE, 
 
 OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Mr. President : After a short interval we are 
 called upon again to recognize the hand of death 
 doing his work amongst us. Another of our col- 
 leagues has obeyed the summons. Clothed in his 
 robes of office he has finished the work assigned him, 
 and sleeps amongst the Fathers, himself one of that 
 patriarchal host. ' ' The hand of the reaper took the 
 ear that was hoary," ripe, matured and perfect. A 
 long distinguished, useful life, filled with the service 
 of his country, alwa3^s forming a portion of its proud- 
 est history, has closed amidst its continuous duties. 
 Closed amidst scenes of domestic endearment, varied 
 hy obedience to the call of his country in lier hour 
 of need, and at the last illuminated by the radiance 
 of that friendship which legitimately surrounds the 
 great and good man at the end of his life. When I 
 saw him in this Hall, a reverential feeling pervaded 
 and possessed me. I listened to his counsels, learned 
 from liis experience, and never before so fully realized 
 the conception of the poet who assigned to Nestor 
 the office of composing the difficulties and solving the 
 perplexities which beset the Grecian council Ijcfore 
 the walls of Troy. We have all been impi-cssed with 
 the unimpaired vigor of his mind, as well as his kind 
 and dignified concession on measures where there 
 
26 
 
 was no sacrifice of principle to expediency. None of 
 us have forgotten the Roman dignity with which he 
 changed his vote upon a great measure in order that 
 the hiw might go forth to tlie country with the pres- 
 tige of unanimity. 
 
 The son of a revolutionary sire whose life consti- 
 tutes so much of the history of that struggle, the lire 
 of patriotism early kindled upon the altar of his 
 heart, continued to glow and burn with increasing 
 intensity, until his name, now cni'olled with that of 
 his distinguished father, will descend with renewed 
 claims to the gratitude of posterity. 
 
 Of tlic political history of President Tyler, it is 
 not my purpose to extend my remarks. We have 
 already heard most interesting details, as far as time 
 would permit ; for should anything more than a 
 reference be made to a career of fifty years, with 
 small intermission in the service of a country which 
 deliglited to honor him, it would protract these ])ro- 
 ceediiigs to an undesirable length. To the biographer 
 and the historian, this work must be assigned. From 
 the year 1811, as a legislator, a lawyer, and the Chief 
 Magistrate of the State, in the House of Representa- 
 tives, the Senate and the Presidential Chair, he filled 
 all the ollices in the gift of tlio people until he attained 
 the highest which they could bestow. Educated in 
 and belonging to the Republican States Rights School, 
 he never failed in all his public acts to recognize 
 those doctrines, reserving for the close of his honored 
 and useful life the crowning act which made those 
 doctrines practical and ()i)eralivc. Retiring from the 
 Presidency, like Cincinnatus, to his farm, within the 
 circle of a lovely family, he was cheered by the hope 
 
27 
 
 which all wise men cherish of that greatest of earthly 
 blessings, that he might close his course in peace and 
 quietness. This realization was denied him, for his 
 country called for him again, and he once more res- 
 ponded to her call, in the last, the noblest service of 
 his life. For whilst we admire the stern consistency 
 of his public life ; his resistance of the Missouri com- 
 promise upon the broad grounds of its unconstitu- 
 tionality ; his solitary vote in the Senate against the 
 force bill ; the sagacity which he displayed in the 
 great measures of his administration ; the wisdom 
 with wliich, in utter disregard of party tactics, he 
 surrounded himself with the greatest and the best of 
 counsellors ; the moral courage with which he eman- 
 cipated the people from the thraldom of the money 
 changers, whose fetters were well nigh fastened upon 
 them ; the separation of the Treasury from the banks, 
 and the annexation of the vast domain of Texas — 
 they all pale before the histor}^ of the last year of his 
 life. Troubles, which many feared, and some antici- 
 pated with the certainty of conviction, came upon us, 
 and the veteran once more, in armor of proof, led his 
 countrymen to resistance. He saw that honor and 
 independence were periled, and his great soul knew 
 not how to hesitate. As an ambassador of Virginia 
 to the President of the United States, he demanded, 
 with a dignity becoming his mission, why it was that 
 the guns of Fortress Monroe, built upon Virginia's 
 soil for her protection, were turned against her bosom 
 — a fact, although existing, was by that functionary 
 denied. As a member of the State Convention, and 
 as President of the Peace Congress, his high purpose 
 and continual claim of the rights of the South marked 
 
28 
 
 him as the '' Chief of the Fathers," on whose firm- 
 ness we could rely and in wliose wisdom we could 
 confide. The masterly speech delivered on his return 
 to the Convention from the Peace Congress, which 
 exposed tlic impotent and degrading conclusions pro- 
 posed by lluit body to liis State, w'ill be long remem- 
 bered. It was the great point in that discussion, it 
 was a triumph over the last effort at submission, and 
 our lamented colleague, looking secession and its con- 
 sequences in the face, feared not to advise and to 
 lead in the consummation which now presents us to 
 the world as llie Confederate States of America. The 
 great master of English Poetry has said of glory, 
 "that, like a circle in the water, it never cease th to 
 enlarge itself till by broad spreading it disperses to 
 nought." However beautiful and true this illustration 
 may be in general, it fails in describing the glory 
 won by our illustrious colleague, the centrifugal force 
 increased with the extent of the surface of its influ- 
 ence, each succeeding circle stronger and more dis- 
 tinct, until the last, rising into a wave, rellected a 
 light wliich adorned its whole circumference with the 
 radiance of the bow of promise. Our eyes have 
 been refreshed by that light ; we have witnessed the 
 vigor of liis thoughts and the power of his eloquence, 
 equalling, if not surpassing his best days. His name 
 will be venerated as long as civil liberty and national 
 honor is clierishcd by the South. To say more of 
 this great passage of his life, would be to attempt to 
 "add fragrance to the violet, to gild refined gold, to 
 give smoothness to ice." His name is embalmed in 
 the record of these events, and their irresistible logic 
 will establish his claims to the reverence of mankind. 
 
29 
 
 But, sir, I must be allowed a few remarks upon the 
 high social and moral qualities of President Tyler. 
 This is a theme on which it is delightful to speak ; it 
 is impressed upon my heart by the recollection of 
 early kindness, the origin of a friendship of more 
 than forty years — the value of which is more justly 
 appreciated when cut off by the cold hand of death. 
 I am not alone in the sadness with which this event, 
 connected with similar circumstances, has filled my 
 bosom. The same acknowledgment of kindness, and 
 a similar sense of obligation is made and felt by 
 many who now listen to me. The number who thus 
 feel is limited only by the extent of his vast acquain- 
 tance with tlie generations which have grown up 
 around and about liim. It was often said of him by 
 some of those who reviewed his unprecedented suc- 
 cess in securing the confidence of his countrymen, 
 and the high positions which he attained to have been 
 a fortunate, a lucky man. This is an unphilosophical, 
 a contracted view of his character, and the current 
 of events in which he mingled. Luclc and fortune, 
 sir, are heathen words, and the want of them is usual- 
 ly the excuse for failures, when the cause was to be 
 found in those who have failed. His kind heart and 
 generous instincts, combined with a thorough know- 
 ledge of human nature, taught him that it was as 
 necessary to happiness and usefulness to increase his 
 stock of friends, as for a merchant to enlarge his cap- 
 ital, wlieii he extended his business. Time and death 
 were conliuually curtailing the number of those who 
 were young when he was young ; and he renewed 
 his strength by generous and disinterested attentions 
 to the rising generation. To inspire them with hope 
 
30 
 
 when launching upon tlie ocean of life, to aid virtu- 
 ous enteri)rise, to cheer the desponding, and give the 
 liglit of his experience to those who sought it, was 
 his peculiar delight. He wisely, henevolently regu- 
 lated his intercourse with the young. "Age is dark 
 and unlovely," and the verdure which may adorn it, 
 and the (lowers which nia}' relieve its barren aspect 
 must be borrowed from them, lie who, conscious of 
 the advantages of age and experience, withdraws him- 
 self from those to whom he might be a benefactor, 
 repelling their ellorts to conciliate his regard and his 
 confidence, must expect a lonely old age. He will 
 stand like some solitary tree in an extensive plain — 
 the sjjort of every blast, the victim of the storm, 
 whilst the friend and counsellor of the 3-oung, will 
 like the monarch of the woods, be surrounded by a 
 young forest which shelters and })rotects it, roHecting 
 the brigiitness of their foliage, borrowing vitality from 
 their proximity, and, at the appohited time, sink so 
 gracefully that we are scarcely conscious of its decay. 
 Our lamented friend appreciated all this — and, during 
 his long and distinguished life, often felt the support 
 of hosts who, won by former kindness, rallied to his 
 support when fiercely assailed and almost overcome. 
 Such events wei-e of necessity connected with such a 
 ])olitic'al life as his. Universally bland and concilia- 
 tory in his intercourse with the people, he scorned 
 the artilices and the aims of the demagogue, regard- 
 ing him as I lie worst, the most dangerous and un- 
 principled enemy of human liberty. Fixed in liis 
 opinions of constitutional law and the sound princi- 
 ples of its athninistration, he was sometimes constrain- 
 ed to abandon party associations, always avowing, as 
 
31 
 
 the reason for such an abandonment, that the party 
 with which he was associated had departed from the 
 principles of their organization. He was thus un- 
 justly reproached with a disregard of party allegiance 
 and that adherence to its discipline which, in the eyes 
 of many, is worse than treason to the State. He 
 looked above such paltry calculations, and was thus 
 more than once in a minority — a word, the very 
 thought of which carries dismay to a trading politi- 
 cian — a word which had no terrors for him. Sus- 
 tained by the truth and the conviction that he was 
 right, the hour of desertion by those in high places, 
 was the moment of his triumph, when looking above 
 and beyond the clamors which surrounded him, he, 
 by a talismanic power, surrounded himself with an 
 impregnable array of wisdom, talent and statesman- 
 ship which secured more and greater advantages to 
 the South than in any Administration within the last 
 half century. With no party either in the Senate or 
 House of Representatives, he conducted the affairs of 
 the Republic with unexampled success, and has lived 
 to silence all complaint and unite all hearts in a com- 
 mon mourning at his death. 
 
 President Tyler was not vindictive, he was not 
 unjust, he was not even harsh in his judgment when 
 he might complain of wrong. He outlived all mis- 
 construction of his motives, and his last days were il- 
 luminated by the undivided admiration of his coun- 
 trymen. He knew the value of kindness and loved 
 to speak kind words : "Khid words are the brightest 
 flowers of earth's existence, they make a very ])ara- 
 dise of the humblest home this world can show. 
 They are jewels beyond price, and more precious to 
 
OZ 
 
 heal the wounded heart and make the weighed down 
 spirit glad than all tlie blessings earth can give." 
 Htre teas the secret of his luck, the cause of his good 
 fortune. His hosts of frieifds increased with his 
 years — here his wealth was inexhaustible — he drew 
 upon a bank that always honored his drafts — the love, 
 the gratitude of those endeared by kind offices, "for 
 Ecratitude is the nuisic of the lieart when its chords are 
 touched by the breezes of kindness.*' From associa- 
 tions like these, he has sunk gracefully to the tomb, 
 and in this view of the subject, why should we grieve; 
 sorrow we may, but murmur we dare not. 
 
 For him was not reserved physical decay to com- 
 bine compassion with our reverence ; no twiliglit of 
 the mind, like a polar sunset, making darkness visible. 
 But with form erect and step elastic, he moved 
 amongst us, and was of us, wliilst his mind, like the 
 tropic sun, retained its size and brightness, until it 
 sunk beneath the wave of Deatli. We have none of 
 those painful recollections which often intrude them- 
 selves upon us,' when the great and good sink into 
 senility and vegetate out of existence, 
 
 "Life ebbs from such old age unraark'd and silent 
 
 As the slow neaptide leaves yon stranded galley. 
 
 Once she rock'd merrily at the least impulse 
 
 That wind or wave could give her; but now her keel 
 
 Is settling in the fand. Iler mast has ta'en 
 
 An angle with the sky, from which it shifts not. 
 
 Each wave receding, shake her less and less, 
 
 Till bedded on the strand, she shall remain 
 
 Useless as motionless." 
 
 No sucli sad finale awaited him. Like a gallant 
 ship returning home after a long and pros})erous 
 passage over the ocean, the haven is reached, the 
 anchor let go, and life's voyage is ended. 
 
33 
 
 Sir, this scene is to me a painful, but instructive 
 lesson. As we advance in j^ears, the loss of those 
 long regarded as friends is indeed, irreparable. To 
 the older of us it announces that the time is short, 
 our duties urgent, what we do must be done quickly 
 and done well, remembering our duty to God and 
 to posterity. To us all, that we are strangers, pil- 
 grims, travellers for a short season, surrounded b}- 
 fearful responsiblities, and the certainty of death. 
 Let us look above and beyond every consideration, 
 but that which we profess to represent, the interests 
 and welfare of our bleeding countr}-. Let our for- 
 tune be hers ; her safety and honor our highest aim. 
 Rejecting all lower motives, let us emulate his 
 patriotism, who with all the endearments of his family 
 around him, could cheerfully die in her service, leav- 
 ing his widow and infant children to his country and 
 his God. Two of our number, after a brief illness^ 
 have bowed their heads and died. Let us seek the 
 Christian's hope as the assurance of the Christian's 
 Heaven. 
 
 Sir. a great light has been extinguished in this 
 hall ; but there is a home once brightened by it 
 which has lost much of its brilliancy. The mild, the 
 lovely ray, which softened and relieved that stronger 
 light, now, in sadness, shines alone. I witnessed its 
 genial influence in the face of the sick, the dying 
 statesman. I heard him speak of his wife and his 
 young children, and commit them to God and his 
 country. May He who has said " leave your father- 
 less children to me " smile upon and bless the be- 
 reaved household with His blessing, which maketh 
 rich and addeth no sorrow therewith. 
 3 
 
REMARKS OF MR. R. BARNWELL RHETT, 
 
 OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Mil. President : I am, perhaps, the oldest pohti- 
 cal associate of the deceased on this floor, excepting 
 citizens from Virginia ; and South Carohna was pecu- 
 harly identified with him, in the leading acts of his 
 administration, when President of the United States. 
 For these reasons, it is perhaps, not improper that I 
 should say a few words upon the sad occasion which 
 has brought us together. 
 
 My acquaintance with the deceased commenced 
 when he was at the zenith of political power. He 
 was President of the United States, by the death of 
 General Harrison. At first, those of us who belonged 
 to the State Rights party or the South, stood aloof 
 from him. He had been elected Yice President 
 upon the Whig ticket with General Harrison. They 
 were opposites in politics. The one was a consoli- 
 dationist — the other a strict constructionist. Many 
 of the State Rights party looked upon this con- 
 junction, with the sternest reprobation. Twenty 
 years has passed since that time. The passions 
 which agitated the day, have gone to rest ; and 
 
95 
 
 we are now able to do justice to the motives and 
 conduct of those who differed from us. All the 
 great questions, with the parties they produced, which 
 influenced or controlled the government of the United 
 States, are gone into history ; and are never again to 
 have any application to the living. The great states- 
 men who ruled them — Clay, Webster, Calhoun. Le- 
 gare, Marshall, Leigh — were all equally patriotic. On 
 the other side of the Potomac, the government of 
 the United States has lapsed into a consolidated des- 
 potism. On this side of the Potomac, we have cast 
 them out of our councils, by the Constitution we have 
 adopted for ourselves. Parties will doubtless arise 
 in the Confederate States ; but they will turn on 
 totally different issues than any which arose under 
 the government of the United States. Considering, 
 then, the events of 1840 as mere matters of history, 
 was it wrong in the deceased to have consented that 
 his name should have been united with that of Gen- 
 eral Harrison in the Presidential election of that year ? 
 That the Democratic part}^ had become greatly de- 
 moralized by its long possession of power, is un- 
 doubted. It had brought the Union to the verge of 
 dissolution by the tariff of 1828, in the subsequent 
 contest of 1832 and '33. Those of us of the State 
 Rights party who assented to support Mr. Van 
 Buren against General Harrison required a distinct 
 declaration of principles as the condition of our sup- 
 port. Accordingly, the Hon. Francis Thomas, of 
 Maryland, and myself, were appointed to prepare the 
 Address put forth to the people of the United States 
 by the Democratic members of Congress, just previous 
 to the Presidential election. Mr. Tyler, who had 
 
36 
 
 been promineut in the Senate in the contest of '32, 
 thought less of the Democratic party than we did. 
 He deemed it hopelessly corrupt ; and that it was a 
 work of patriotism to unite all the elements of op- 
 position to eject it from power. Accordingly, he 
 joined the Whig party, to constitute a mere opposi- 
 tion party, without any principles, or declaration of 
 principles, to overthrow the Democratic party in the 
 Presidential election. Was he wrong? Have not 
 subsequent events proved, that the Democratic party 
 of the North was just as hostile to the rights of the 
 South as their opponents ? When they joined us, it 
 was to subserve their sectional interests. Their co- 
 action was only policy. In 1852 they wrested Cali- 
 fornia from us. In the late Presidential election 
 they joined the sectional effort for our subjugation ; 
 and now they swell the armies of the United States, 
 our bitterest and most most malignant foes. Dallas, 
 Dickinson, Wilkins, McClernand, Dix, are foremost 
 in urging on the work of slaughter and desolation 
 over the South. The truth is, the South never had 
 any real friends at the North. With the lights of 
 the present day, can we condemn the course of any 
 statesman of the South for any course of opposition 
 to such invidious and deadly enemies ? 
 
 President Tyler, on becoming President, soon 
 found himself surrounded with the most embarrass- 
 ing difficulties. Those who acted together as an op- 
 position could not agree on any policy, so soon as 
 they attained power. They had the possession of 
 the Government, and must rule it by some policy. 
 The Whigs, with Mr. Clay at their head, insisted that 
 that policy should be the policy of the Whigs, and 
 
I 
 
 S7 
 
 that they should begin with re-establishing a United 
 States Bank. Mr. Tyler protested against such an 
 assumption. His State Rights principles were well 
 known, and he Avas placed on the presidential ticket 
 on account of them. He would not abandon them. 
 The honorable gentleman over the way from Vir- 
 ginia, (Mr. Rives,) also protested against such a 
 course, and met Mr. Clay in high and stern debate 
 m the Senate, on the incorporation of a United States 
 Bank. I was present at that debate ; and imposing 
 and great as Mr. Clay always was hi the Senate, he 
 was more than matched by the dauntless energy ar.d 
 ability displayed by m}'^ honorable friend ; and Mr. 
 Clay seemed to me to be conscious of it. The truth 
 was, the Senator from Virginia had the right, 1 
 think, on his side, and wielded its weapons with a 
 courage and force, which won for him the admiration 
 of all spectators. The Bank bill, nevertheless 
 passed ; and President Tyler vetoed it. Sir, I wit- 
 nessed the tremendous denunciations of Mr. Clay, 
 in the Senate, of President Tyler, for this act of 
 simple consistency, with all the political principles of 
 his life. It was the most fiery and magnificent display 
 of eloquence I ever heard, excepting on one other 
 occasion. Mr. Clay, I doubt not, was as honest as he 
 was earnest in these denunciations, but who now will 
 condemn the deceased for his course ? Mr. Clay 
 carried the party with him. Cut off thus from all 
 parties, he determined, if possible, to enforce in the 
 Government the principles he had professed ; and, 
 for this end, to throw himself upon the State Rights 
 party. He offered Mr. Calhoun the office of Secre- 
 tary of State, with the power (common to the Pre- 
 
38 
 
 mier of England ) of forming the Cabinet. Mr. 
 Calhoun consulted the honorable delegate from Vir- 
 ginia (Mr. Hunter) and myself, whetlier he should 
 accept of the office. Both of us earnestly advised 
 him to accept it. After a night's consideration, how- 
 ever, he rejected it. The Whig party was broken 
 by the veto, and by the succeeding elections was over- 
 thrown. 
 
 At a late period of his administration, Mr. Cal- 
 houn entered his Cabinet as Secretary of State, with 
 a view of annexing Texas to the Union — the other 
 great measure of Mr. Tyler's administration. It is 
 not easy at the present day to understand the state 
 of things existing at this time. They were felt, rather 
 than seen. The determination of the North to rule 
 the South could be understood, but could not be proved 
 to exist. The annexation of Texas was opposed by 
 them for no other reason than that it strengthened 
 the South, and impeded their progress to national 
 dominion. In all other respects, it was of vast ad- 
 vantage to them. At an early period of his admhi- 
 istration, President Tyler had meditated annexing 
 Texas to the Union. He accomplished it, and gained 
 a vast territory for the South ; but it helped on by 
 its agitators to drive the sections asunder. From this 
 time forth, every measure of importance in the Gov- 
 ernment assumed a sectional character, until at last, by 
 the late Presidential election, the South was compel- 
 led to choose her destiny, of subjection in the Union, or 
 independence out of it. Although long in retire- 
 ment. President Tyler, came forth to meet the emer- 
 gency. His ellbrts to save tlie Union, consistent with 
 the safety of the South, were in vain ; and he took 
 
d9 
 
 his stand for uniting Virginia to the Southern Con- 
 federacy. His labors for this purpose belong to hie 
 State, but their fruits to the Confederacy. 
 
 Mr President, as age advances, the imagination 
 usually declines. Burke and Milton, were exceptions 
 to this usual effect of time. Perhaps, however, this 
 result is often more apparent tlian real. Indifference 
 may produce the same effect as weakness. As age 
 advances, the vanity of all things terrestial is forced 
 upon the mind. Interest flags ; and without interest 
 the power of the mind cannot be evolved. The effect of 
 apathy is mistaken for decay. The distinguished dead 
 before us, seemed to possess, to the last, all the energy 
 and fire which an undimmed imagination and the 
 strongest interest in public affairs produce. You all 
 remember the speech he delivered at our last session, 
 on the imposition of taxes, Virginia, and her con- 
 tributions and sufferings — the Confederate States, 
 and their high duties and obligations — our noble 
 cause and the lofty destiny which awaited us — were 
 the themes of his graceful and striking oratory. The 
 youngest of us could not have spoken with more fire 
 and force. His faculties seemed undimmed to the last. 
 
 The deceased appeared to me to possess remarka- 
 ble equanimity of temper. With the deepest interest 
 in public aflQiirs, he had but little of that acerbity 
 which the conflicts of public life are but too apt to 
 produce against political foes. He was an honest 
 man, not merely in the vulgar sense of the term, 
 confined to pecuniary relations, but in that higher 
 meaning of the poet, when he says that "an honest 
 man is the noblest work of God." He gave every 
 man his due — in their characteristics, in their ser- 
 
40 
 
 vices, in their moral worth. He liad none of that 
 narrow vindictiveness in the administration of pubUc 
 affairs, which makes them tributary to personal pas- 
 sions. He was faithful to himself, whilst faithful to 
 the country. He lifted himself to the dignity of his 
 positions, and filled the great offices entrusted to him 
 with a single view to the objects for which they were 
 created. He was a man of the kindliest benevolence; 
 yet he could see, even in the suiTerings and desola- 
 tions of war, the hand of a benificent Providence 
 working out the grand result of an eternal separa- 
 tion from our foes. A truer and brav^er upholder of 
 the independence of the Confederate States did not 
 exist throughout our wide borders. 
 
 Sir, in conversation held, just before I left here to 
 attend the Convention of South Carolina, whilst 
 pacing yonder portico, he mentioned to me the 
 eflbrts he had made in the Peace Conference at Wash- 
 ington, to satisfy the Northern delegates of the inesti- 
 mable value of the South to them. He urged, that 
 any great nation in Europe would give countless 
 millions for the advantages the Union alTorded them; 
 but he was apparently unable to produce the least im- 
 pression, to arrest their obstinate persistence in a policy 
 of non-concession. But as soon as we had cast off the 
 union with them, they seemed to be suddenly awaked 
 to the tremendous ruin they had dragged down upon 
 themselves ; " and now, sir," he added,'' " they pro- 
 pose, by murdering our people and desolating our 
 country, to force us back into an association with 
 them, that we might again minister to their aggran- 
 dizement and wealth ; but as a just God lives they 
 must fail." Mr. President, even though dead, he 
 
" 41 
 
 speaketh. "As a just God lives, they must fail." 
 His venerable form will no longer be seen amongst us. 
 His voice will no longer be heard to support the great 
 cause in which we are engaged ; but the pious con- 
 viction he uttered will be realized in history. May 
 we not suppose his voice to be the voice of prophecy ; 
 and that that glorious reality he so much desired to 
 see, of a redeemed, free and happy people in the 
 Confederate States, will have its righteous consum- 
 mation — " as a just God lives, they must fail ! " 
 
 Mr. President, South Carolina mingles her grief 
 with Virginia, over the loss of her illustrious son. 
 
Congress, January 25, 1862. 
 
 I certify that the resohitions, introduced as afore- 
 said, by Mr. Macftirland, of Virginia, were unani- 
 mously adopted by the Congress of the Confederate 
 States of America, on the twentieth day of January, 
 in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two. 
 
 JOHNSON J. HOOPER, 
 Secretary of the Congress. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 31st January, 1863. 
 
Congress, January 25, 1862. 
 
 I certify that, on the twenty-first day of January, 
 in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two, on the 
 occasion of the obsequies of the honorable John 
 Tyler, of Virginia, the following prayer w^as offered 
 in the Hall of the Congress, in the city of Richmond, 
 in the State of Virginia, by the Rev. Dr. Hoge ; and 
 that the discourse which follows, was delivered 
 in St. Paul's Church by the Right Reverend John 
 Johns, Assistant (Episcopal) Bishop of the Diocese 
 of Virginia. J. J. HOOPER, 
 
 Secretary of the Congress. 
 
PRAYER BY REV. DR. HOGE. 
 
 The first exercise in Congress after the House was 
 called to order, and before the body was removed to 
 the church, was the offering of the following prayer, 
 by Rev. Dr. Hogc, of the Presbyterian Church : 
 
 " Almighty and ever-blessed God ! Thou hast estab- 
 lished Thy throne in the Heavens, and Thy kingdom 
 ruleth over all. The hearts of the children of men 
 are in Thy hand ; their lives are subject to Thy con- 
 trol ; at Thy command their bodies return to the 
 dust, and their spirits go to the God who gave them. 
 
 "We humbly beseech Thee to make us deeply 
 sensible of our dependence on Thee, and to fill us 
 with reverence and godly fear. And now, that we 
 are about to go to the House of God, there to hear 
 the instruction of Th}" Holy Oracles, and thence to 
 the grave, there to behold the place appointed for all 
 the living, we pray Thee ' make us to know our end, 
 and the measure of our days, what it is, that we may 
 know how frail we are.' And may Thy Holy Spirit 
 so accompany the solemn scenes and services of the 
 day that we may thereby be better prepared for all 
 that awaits us in future life, for the hour of death, 
 and for the felicities and glories of Thine Everlasting 
 Kingdom, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESS, BY RIGHT REV. J. 
 JOHNS, D. D. 
 
 " Render, therefore, to all their dues. « « « Honor 
 to whom honor is due." — Rom. xni : 7. 
 
 In rising to perform the solemn and responsible 
 service which has been assigned me in connection 
 with this mournful dispensation of Divine Providence, 
 I feel that I should trespass on the appropriate pro- 
 vince of others, if I were to presume even to sketch 
 the public character and course of the venerable 
 statesman around whose bier we are assembled. The 
 grateful tribute which these deserve has, in some 
 measure, been cordiall}^ rendered by those more con- 
 versant with his distinguished career of usefulness 
 and honor, and more capable of delineating them 
 with accuracy and completeness. They are the rich 
 and precious legacy of his country, and will be con- 
 spicuously recorded in her annals as materials to 
 adorn her history, and to animate and guide others 
 by the salutar}'- example which they afford. 
 
 His eventful* and extended life, however, from its 
 commencement to its close, abounds in passages of 
 uncommon interest, within the range of less elevated 
 observation, to which we ma}'' here briefly advert 
 with honor to his memory and profit to ourselves. 
 
48 
 
 JoHxV Tyleu was the worthy son of a patriotic 
 sire, from whose lips he received those lessons of 
 political wisdom which gave their cast to his charac- 
 ter, controlled his course through life, and made him 
 eminently a blessing, not only to this Commonwealth, 
 but to his whole country. 
 
 Imbued with the instructions, and impressed by the 
 example of his parental home, he was sent, at an 
 early age, to the City of Williamsburg, that he might 
 there enjoy the advantages i'urniyhed by the College 
 of William and Mary, then in its palmiest days. 
 There, under the tuition of its distinguished Presi- 
 dent and learned Professors, and in association with 
 many gifted youths of high aspirations and of emu- 
 lous excellence, animating each other in the paths of 
 literature and science — his intellectual endowments 
 were brought out into healthy activity, and disciplined 
 to habits of diligent application, and careful compre- 
 hensive and manly thought, wliilst the patriotic })rin- 
 ciples of the homestead were matured to a vigor, and 
 stereotyped with a distinclnoNS, which early gained 
 for him the generous and lasting confidence of his 
 fellow-citizens ; and which neither yielded to the 
 sinister pressures, nor were obscured by the corrupt 
 atmosphere which seem insepaiable i'rom eminent 
 position and political power. 
 
 To his connection with the venerable institution of 
 which he was an alumnus, and the stirring incidents, 
 and the early but abiding friendships of his college 
 course, which linked him for life with those who sub- 
 sequently shared in his usefulness and renown, he 
 was wont to recur with a glow of enthusiasm which 
 age did not abate, and a graphic power which vividly 
 
49 
 
 reproduced the scenes which he deUghted to enume- 
 rate. To these spirited recitals the graver subjects 
 of Ufe seasonably gave place, and those honored with 
 his acquaintance cannot forget the pleasure with 
 which they have listened to those interesting reminis- 
 cences. His Alma Mater never lost her place in his 
 heart — never needed counsel or support which he 
 was not ready to render ; and in return, wliilst she 
 joyfully watched the career of her favored son, she 
 delighted to express her gratitude by decking his 
 honored brow with every garland in her gift. Always 
 a leading member in the Board of Visitors, he was 
 first advanced to its Presidency, and at last chosen to 
 its Chancellorship — an ofiice in which he had no pre- 
 cursor but the Father of his Country, from whose 
 death it was kept vacant from profound respect for 
 his memory, till by acclamation our departed brother 
 was declared his worthy successor. 
 
 True to his early training and instinct, with the 
 fine spirit of the period when he attained to manhood, 
 his step was steady, his course consistent, and his 
 movements onward and upward, with manly bearing 
 and salutary influence, to the loftiest eminence assign- 
 ed to those whom the State and nation delight to 
 honor. He had made himself necessary to both. 
 Neither could afford to dispense with his valuable 
 services. Such a man need not, if he could, spend 
 his time and strength in catering for his personal 
 popularity, and in unworthy wrestlings with competi- 
 tors for place and power, and profit. The public eye 
 will find him out ; public want call for his aid ; the 
 public hand draw from his modest retirement, and 
 give him the position and honor for which noisy aspi- 
 
60 
 
 rants should be left to pine in merited negleet. And 
 such has been the history of our lamented brother, 
 from the hour \vhen he left the shades of his beloved 
 university up to the moment when we assemble to 
 consign his bod}-, shrouded in the drapery of death, 
 to an honorable grave. 
 
 His appreciated intelligence was needed in our 
 counsels, and the people of his country send him as 
 their representative man — the interests of the Com- 
 monwealth need peculiar administrative power, and 
 he is placed in the Gubernatorial chair ; the Senate 
 of his country calls for the wisdom of experience and 
 the refinement of a gentlemen to influence its pro- 
 ceedings ; and the Legislature of his State commis- 
 sion him as their sage and model. The country at 
 large look for men of superior ability and sterling- 
 worth to manage their interest and determine their 
 destiny ; and he is chosen by the nation to stand next 
 to its Chief Magistrate, and soon, by the Providence 
 of God, he is placed in the Presidential chair. " Honor 
 to whom honor is due." 
 
 We cannot say his course culminated here, for it 
 experienced no subsequent decline. Its brightness 
 and general influence were not diminished by the 
 altered line of his orbit. Though this passed for a 
 season to a region of which ordinary vision is less 
 observant, and radiated its light through a medium 
 which rendered it less obvious to the public eye, 
 he was only gathering new energy, that in the 
 approaching hour of his country's gloom, he might 
 come forth with renewed force, and rejoice as a strong 
 man to run his race. But experience has proved, 
 that it was not for created light to dispel the darkness 
 
51 
 
 and check the corruption which broodocl over and 
 poisoned the fountains of national power. The hght 
 which was ineflectual there was given to our ])ath — 
 how clearly, and with what force and happy effect we 
 do not yet perhaps, duly appreciate. In its direct 
 action for our benefit it has ceased. I will not say 
 set, for notwithstanding the lengthened day, its 
 radiance was not dimmed. It went down at noon. 
 
 He, who so long lent, has withdrawn the blessing 
 not in displeasure, I trust, bat to teach us not to put 
 our confidence in man, " whose breath is in his nos- 
 trils," but in God, who liveth and abideth forever — 
 " For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as 
 the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the 
 flower thereof passeth away, but the word of the Lord 
 endureth for ever." 
 
 From the eflect of this arrangement there is no 
 dispensation. " By one man sin entered into the 
 world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
 all men, in that all have sinned." This is a warfare 
 from which there is no discharge. It is not a fortui- 
 tous event, but a Divine appointment — "appointed 
 to men once to die." 
 
 This decree is irresistible in its force, and universal 
 in its application. One generation passeth away, and 
 another cometh, as wave followeth wave on the ocean, 
 to break and disappear on the dark shore. Death is 
 inexorable. If usefulness could have staid the stroke 
 it would not have prostrated that venerable form. If 
 temporal distinction could have dazzled the vision and 
 distracted the aim, his fatal shaft would not have 
 pierced that heart. If personal virtues, cultivated 
 intellect, a high order of eloquence, uncommon col- 
 
51^ 
 
 loquial power could charm the stern executioner, he 
 would not have dealt the deadly blow. If public 
 respect, warm personal friendship, the tenderest, 
 strongest charities of domestic life could prevail, we 
 would not be here in sorrow for our sore bereave- 
 ment. But irrespective of all that is honest and honor- 
 able and refined and of good report, sooner or later, 
 the decree is executed — the silver chord is broken — 
 the body dissolves into its native elements ; " earth 
 to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust" — the spirit re- 
 turns to God who gave it. 
 
 That the gitted mind which lately dwelt in this 
 lifeless body, was accustomed to meditate on the in- 
 evitable event which has now occurred — that our la- 
 mented brother was firmly convinced of the Divine 
 origin of the Christian religion, and regarded it as 
 furnishing the only ground for a reasonable hope of 
 pardon and peace — he never hesitated to affirm. 
 That with these views, when a few years since, he 
 thought the time of his departure at hand, 
 he deliberate^ considered that he had made ade- 
 quate provision for its solemn issues, we do know 
 from the testimony of the pastor of the Church 
 which he loved to frequent, and in whose 
 scriptural and impressive ritual he so reverently join- 
 ed. These are among the interesting facts to which 
 we recur for solace and support under our irrepara- 
 ble loss, as they indicate that the great work for Eter- 
 nity was not neglected through life, to be hurried 
 over amidst the haste of surprise and the disabling 
 infirmities of dissolution. 
 
 Let, then, the occasion which has brought us to- 
 gether speak in sepulchral tones- to every hearer, -and 
 
53 
 
 especially to those who, in their several relations, 
 have been associated with our deceased brother in 
 moulding and vitalizing this new Republic, in the 
 service of which he freely spent his latest energies. 
 Bear solemnly in mind ycur tremendous responsibil- 
 ity to God and man, for yourselves, and for millions 
 whose welfare is largely entrusted to your care. Re- 
 member that life is short, and eternal judgment sure 
 and unerring. Prepare in time to meet your God, 
 who is no respecter of persons. Flee for shelter to 
 the only Refuge for sinners — the cross of Christ — and 
 find salvation there. "Seek that wisdom which 
 cometh down from above, which is pure and peacea- 
 ble, and profitable to direct," that by your endeavors 
 " all things may be so ordered and settled upon the 
 best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, 
 truth and justice, religion and piet}-, 'may be estab- 
 lished among us for all generations." Then, when 
 your eye has lost its lustre, and your heart has ceased 
 to beat, and sorrowing survivors bear you to the re- 
 ceptacle of the dead, a grateful and prosperous coun- 
 try will cherish your honored memory, and genera- 
 tions in succession rise up and call you blessed. 
 
 We now turn to the last sad service of the day — 
 and if. as we stand in that cemeter}'' and commit this 
 body to the ground, memory carries us back to a sim- 
 ilar scene, some few years since, when the remains of 
 another distinguished son of Virginia were respect- 
 fully brought from a distant State, to repose in their 
 native soil — brought by those who were then bound 
 to us by national relationship, and cordially welcomed 
 as brethren — whose hands helped us in the sacred 
 ceremony, and whose hearts felt as at the interment 
 
64 
 
 of a common benefactor, but who are now pressing 
 upon us to devastate our land and subjugate our peo- 
 ple — let us try, despite of the grievous wrong we 
 have endured, to remember Him, who one day was 
 greeted by the hosannas of the multitude, who, the 
 next vociferated, " crucify Ilim, crucify Him'* — and 
 let us endeavor with His spirit, and in His words to 
 pray, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
 they do." 
 
 This spirit will nerve our arms to noble resistance 
 of all invasion, and secure us His favor, who is the 
 only giver of all victory. " The Lord of Hosts will 
 be with us," and "Grod, ever our own God, will give 
 us His blessing."