U.s, 
 
 rUOCEEDINGS 
 
 DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT, 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 186C. 
 
 Mm-mi 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMKNT I'UINTING OFFICE. 
 186G. 
 
■'=^ 
 
 
 I? 
 
■1 
 
 V K O C E E D I N G S 
 
 DEATH OF llOX. SOLOMON FOOT 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 WKDNE.SDAY, MARCH -JS, 1866. " 
 
 Ihtnnrlis of Mr. Sr.MM;i:, of Mas^itchusctts. 
 
 !Mr. Pkf;sidk.\t : A great bereavement Las fallen iqion the Senate. 
 Mr. Foot, a senator of Vermont, one of our most honored associates, 
 and the oldest among us in continuous service, died this morning at 
 8 o'clock. He has passed from this scene of duty and of honor. In 
 the presence of such a sorrow it seems better that public business 
 should be suspended in this chamber for to-day. Accordin"-ly, I 
 shall make a motion which 1 believe will have the sympathetic con- 
 currence of the Senate. 1 make it in the absence of the surviving 
 senator of Vermont, who is now necessarily engaged in attendance 
 upon the family of the deceased, and after consultation with him. I 
 move that the Senate do now adjourn. 
 
 The motion was unanimously agreed to, and the Senate adjourncKl. 
 
 THURSDAY, JIARCII 29, 1866. 
 Remarks of Mr. Poi-AXD, <// Vermont. 
 'Mr. ]'ia:&iDE.\T : I rise to perform a most painful duty. A very 
 few months Bincc Vermont was represented in the Senate of the 
 United States by two of her most distinguished citizens, of large 
 ability, tried integrity, and filled with the wisdom derived from long 
 experience in public affairs. Just previous to the commencement of 
 the present session one of these eminent men, my predecessor on 
 
this lloov, was calk'il aMay by Jratli. AVliilo the voices ot' mourn- 
 ing tor his loss are yet sounding in our ears, the bolt has again 
 fallen, and Vermont is again c;illed to weep over the dead form oi' 
 the other. 3Iy colleague in this body, and one of its oldest and most 
 distiuguislu'dmembers, the Hon. Solomon Foot, died at his lodgings 
 in this city yesterday, at about eight o'clock in the morning, lie 
 endured a long and painful sickness with ])utience and resignation, 
 and departi'd this life with bright and cheerful hoj)es of a blessed 
 innnortality in tlie life to come. The time which has elapsed since 
 this great sorrow has fallen upon us has been so short, that amid 
 the grief and care occasioned b^' the sad event, 1 have found no 
 time in which to prepare to speak suitably of the character and dis- 
 tinguished public services of our departed associate; and 1 shall 
 therefore ask the iiululgence of the Senate on some future day, when 
 time shall have a little dulled the sharp edge of our grief, for myself 
 and others who ma}' desire an opportunity to pay ajipropriate tribute 
 to the memory of the deceased. 
 
 I now oti'er the following resolutions, and ask their present con- 
 sideration : 
 
 Rcso/vcd, That the membeii? of the Senate, from a sincere desire 
 of showing every mark of respect to the Hon. Solomon Foot, deceased, 
 late a senator from the State of Vermont, will go into mourning for the 
 residue of the present session by the usual mode of wearing crape on 
 the loft .arm. 
 
 licsolrcd, That the Senate will attend the funeral of the deceased 
 from the Senate chamber at 1 o'clock to-day; and that the committee 
 of arrangements, consisting of ^lessrs. Doolittle, Anthony, Howard, 
 Hendricks, Sherman, and Buckalew, superintend the same. 
 
 Ordered, That the Secretary comuuniicate these proceedings to 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
'1' 11 E F U N E Jt A L (' E R E MONIES 
 
 Siruion Inj \U:V. I5iK(kN SiMjCRI.aM), JJ. I>. 
 
 At 1 f)'(lo(k f). III., on tlif; 2'.)\.\\ of Marcli, tlir; corps, attondcfl liy 
 tint cornniiltct; of arranf((;mc;iit.s, pall-bcarerH, family and frionflu of llie 
 deceased, and citizenH of Vermont, wan removed from the late resi- 
 dence of tlie deceased, and placed in the area in the ceiitrt? of the 
 Senate chamber, wliere seats were provided for the remainin;^ sen- 
 ator and representatives from Vermont, and the family of the d(- 
 ceased. 'i'he jndf^es and officers of the .Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the J^resident of the United States, and tlie heads of the 
 various departments, and the members of the House of Representa- 
 tives, preceded by their Speak«;r and officers, entered tlie Senate 
 chamber at intervals, and were conducted to the seats assigned to 
 them. 
 
 'J'lic pall-bearers were senators Fessenden, Harris, Jolinson, Guthrie, 
 J.aiir;of Indiana, and Sumner Jyie-utenant General Grant and otlier 
 officers of the army commingled in the solemn scent;. The Rev. E. 
 11. Gray, D. 1)., Chaplain of the Senate, and the Rev. C. 13. lioyntoii, 
 Chaplain of the House of R(;jiresentative.s, officiated in the devotional 
 serviccB; and the Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. 1)., delivered tlie fol- 
 lowing discourse over the bier : 
 
 "Like as a father pitieth his cliildren, so the Lord pitietli them that 
 ft'ar him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we an; 
 dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so 
 he ffourisheth, for the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and th(; 
 jdfice thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is 
 fr(jm everlasting to ev(;rlaHting upon them that fear him ; and his 
 righteousness unto children's children, to such as keep his covenant, 
 and to those that remember his commandments to do them." — Psalm 
 ciii, i:j-18. 
 
 There is no need, on this solemn occasion, to make an exposition 
 of this language or to build an argument upon it. Interpreted by 
 the dispensation of I'lovidence which convenes us here to-day in 
 
this liigb place of the nation, at this anxious period of our pubUc 
 affairs, it becomes a sermon in itself, plainly speaking borne to every 
 heart its great lessons of instruction, of admonition, and of consola- 
 \Mu. Here is the fatherhood of God and the frailty of man. 
 Here is omnipotence directed by compassion to shield and save the 
 creatures that must otherwise perish without a remedy and without 
 a hope; here is divine, illimitable fidelity encouraging and assuring 
 human weakness and waywardness to seek in the paths of virtue 
 and of piety that secure possession which may outlast all the fleeting 
 trifles of time, and remain forever in the jjresence and favor of 
 Jehovah, when the earth shall have crumbled, and the firmament 
 shall have been rolled together as a scroll. 
 
 Would that now we, in this funeral hour, might lay aside the 
 conventional and proper pomps of this Senate chamber, as we 
 have been willing to arrest the momentous tide of the daily affairs 
 that are pressing upon us here, in oi'der to j)ay our respect to 
 the memory of one so long an honored member of the Senate of the 
 United States, but whom Cod has now removed from these scenes 
 of earth; Avould that here and now, Avith his sacred ashes in our 
 midst, and all the signals of our bereavement displayed befor(> us, 
 Ave mitrht fore-ct the tasks and the anxieties, the strifes and conflicts, 
 the exciting questions and startling changes of tins great time, and 
 go back again to the feelings and the days of our early childhood. 
 Oh! could Ave become this day for a little space as once Ave were — 
 the unsophisticated and comparatively unsoiled children of those 
 purer years, Avhilc habits Avere unformed and associations Avere un- 
 fixed, and when our minds could perceive and our hearts could feel 
 more keenly than now they may the great truths of home and 
 parentage, of the soul and religion, of God and immortality, of Jesus 
 and the resurrection. And Avhy should we not be so, for youth has 
 its Avisdom as Avell as mature age, and the simplicity of childhood is 
 often clearer th;Mi the worldly discretion of many years. 
 
 Senators, Representatives, Friends : 1 do not come to make a g-reat 
 plea this day before you. I do not come to analyze or eulogize that 
 noble life which has just been concluded in your midst. 1 have no 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 
 
 tlion^ht, of reviewing the public history of those events in vhicli he 
 ha« bornc! Avith yourselves so conspicuous a part. But I come nillu-r 
 as an humble son of that State in this great Union which gave us a 
 like birth l)eneath its mountains, and inspired us with its pure and i)o- 
 tent airs of liberty : I come rather because, in the providence of God, 
 it has been allotted to me, aa his pastor and friend in Washington, to 
 be near and to know hira well for many yeai-s : I come because invited, 
 generously invited, by ray brother in the ministry of reconciliation, 
 also of our native State, and Chaplain of the Senate of the United 
 States, and because it has been told me that I should thus fulfil a 
 desire of family and friends, both here and elsewhere, to apeak for 
 him who once and so short a time ago could speak for others here 
 with most impressive eloquence, but whose lips, alas I too mute, are 
 silent on earth forever. 
 
 I only come to tell the simple story of his going out from among 
 us. It may be possible that the details I have to give will seem to 
 some too delicate, too sacred to be rehearsed in public. But I have 
 long felt that there existed an affectation among many of our public 
 men, and a factitious modesty, which more conceals the truth of God 
 than fosters any genuine good taste;. And now, under the sanction 
 of the sacred passage I have read to you, and as another solemn and 
 impressive instance of its reality and truthfulness, I propose to fol- 
 low the developments of the experience of our departed friend fi om 
 the commencement to the close of his last illness and the conclusion 
 of his mortal carec.'r. 
 
 Senator Foot, as chairman of the Senate committee to make 
 arrangements for observing the anniversary of the birthday of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, on the 12th of February, 1866, in the hall of the 
 House of Representatives, was actively engaged on that day in the 
 performance of the duties assigned to him. The following night he 
 suffered severely from an attack of internal inflammation, which was, 
 however, arrested by the prompt attention of his physician, and he 
 had in a day or two so far recovered as to visit the Senate chamber 
 once more, where his last official work appears to have been the 
 offering of the appropriate resolutions which closed the action of the 
 
Senate in reference to the solemn .ind imposing ceremouies of the 
 I2tli of February. But meanwhile another more permanent diffi- 
 culty appeared, and j:inndice, with general prostration of the physi- 
 cal poweri? and mental dejection, was the consequence. It was not 
 supposed by his physicians or friends that his case was at all dan- 
 gerous or alarming, while, of course, anxiety was felt to see him 
 fully recovered and able to resume his duties. But from the first 
 he himself seems to have been impressed with the conviction that it 
 would be his last sickness, and this conviction he freely and at all 
 times expressed It is not the design of these brief fragments to 
 give a complete history of the case as it went on from day to day 
 to its iinal termination. I have a desire simply to record some of 
 the incidents of the last illness of Senator Foot, which may serve to 
 show the state of his mind on the subject of religious faith and ex- 
 perience, and also his ideas and prospects of a future state. 1 only 
 profess to give the substance of interviews at which I was present. 
 This outline will be necessarily fragmentary ; but so far as it goes 
 1 believe it to state truly, and often exactly in the language em- 
 ployed, the incidents here narrated. 
 
 Having called u])on him two or three times before he Mas confined 
 to his bed, 1 saw him only in com])any with many other friends, who 
 were going and coming at will, and the conversation .at these times 
 was general, with no special reference to the subject of religion. 
 
 But on Saturday evening, March 10, on calling at his rooms, at 
 I\Irs. Carter's, on Capitol Hill, 1 found lie was then in bed, and that 
 the disease had proved more difficult of treatment than was at first 
 supposed. He had suft'ered at times intensely. After speaking with 
 him for a few moments about the symptoms of his case, and the 
 prospect of fully meeting them by the remedies employed, I rose to 
 tak(; my leave of him, sajing, " jMy dear Senator, it is little 1 can do 
 to help you or testify my gratitude and affection for you ; but there 
 is one thing I can do and shall continue to do, and that is to j)ray 
 for you." He immediately replied, "Yes, that is what I want you 
 to do — what I want you to do now ;" then asking his wife, who 
 stood at the foot of the bed, to close the door and come and join us 
 
DEATH OF HON. .SOLOMON FOOT 
 
 in our Buppliciition, we for the first time so knelt tof^ether in that 
 cliMHiber of nickness and poured out our desires to God. He f^cerncd 
 very gratt^ful to have such a season of Avorship, and bade me "good- 
 'hy" for the nigljt. The next time I culled, and indeed for two or 
 time times after, he was so engaged with others arranging his affairs, 
 or trying to obtain rest, that I did not speak with him. But on 
 -Monday, March 19, I had an interview with him at his own r(;r|U(st. 
 When we were alone, with the door shut, (he always insisted on the 
 door being shut whenever religious subjects were to Ije considered, 
 perhaps in deference to the command of Christ, "When thou hast 
 entered into thy closet, shut to thy door,") lie commenced by saying 
 that he had desired to see and converse with me; that he had re- 
 ceived a very tender and affecting letter from his old friend and 
 pastor, the Rev. Dr. Aiken, of Rutland, Vermont, on the subject of 
 his spiritual welfare; and, continuing to speak wiih great solemnity 
 and earnestness, frequently interrupted by weeping and sobbing, lie 
 said : "I know it is but a poor time for a man to pay attention to 
 the concerns of his soul when he is brought face to face with death. 
 And I can say, that having always assented, intellectually, at least, 
 to the truth of the Christian doctrines, I have oidy been too prone 
 to postpone the practical question for so long a time to find at last, 
 what I now have to lament, that life has been wasted in not having 
 been devoted to Lfe's greatest end. This thought, indeed, has more 
 deeply impressed me f.^r the last two years ; and at the commence- 
 ment of this illness I was about proposing to assume a duty Ion" 
 neglected, but which 1 have felt tliat I would take up in hope of re- 
 ceiving some further light and strength from the only source of our 
 help — that is, from our Maker and Cod. The duty 1 rcder to is that 
 of family worshij) morning and evening, day by day. For years I 
 have daily read the Rible in the presence of my wife ; but when I 
 have seen her seeking her God in prayer so habitually and earnestly, 
 I have felt that we ought to be united in it, and havf, purposed, if 
 ever permitted to do so, that this privilege as well as duty shall no 
 longer be neglected." 
 
 Contiiming, he said, "I feel that I can never be thankful enouLdi 
 
10 PROCEEDINGS ON THE 
 
 to God for giving me a pious ancestry. My father and mother were 
 both devoted Christians, and I was fully instructed in early child- 
 hood in the lessons of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have never 
 doubted from that day to this the truth and reality of those teachings. 
 I know and feel that I am a sinner. I believe that Christ made an 
 atonement sufficient for all men, and that this atonement is the only 
 ground of salvation for human beings. I am well convinced that 
 none will ever be Siived by the works of righteousness which they 
 have done. I have a strong desire to accept these terms of mercy, 
 if only I might have an assurance that God will not now reject me 
 after my long rejection of Him. That is the point to which I have 
 come. Is there anything for me to do that I have not done, and 
 Avill you point out the way, that I may go onward in it ?" In com- 
 mencing a reply to this appeal, I adverted to the fact that I had 
 long had a desire for such an interview as this, and expressed a 
 thankful sense that it had been so graciously accorded at this time, 
 and I was going on to state, by way of evidencing still further the 
 tokens of Divine favor granted to himself and his friends in the long, 
 upright, useful life he had been enabled to lead, and, judging by the 
 standard of men, in the comparatively pure and noble example he 
 had given both in private and public relations to his fellow-country- 
 men, and especially the young men of this generation in our land, 
 that this was now and ever would be a source of satisfaction to his 
 family and friends, and to the people of his town and State — when 
 misapprehending the object of my remarks, and supposing I was 
 about to lead him to rely upon his past life and character for his 
 future prospects, he quickly interposed to say, "All that will not 
 answer me now. 1 must have a heart-work. I must have the foun- 
 dation of the atonement of Christ alone to stand upon. I know 
 there is no other uniwi given under heaven or among men whereby 
 we must be saved." Then leaving the topic on which I was speak- 
 ing, 1 tried l^ address myself to the one point which I discovered to 
 be weighing upon his mind, and that was how he should be saved 
 simply and solely u])on the plan of God's grace through faith in the 
 Lord Jesus. I explained to him, by reference to my own experience, 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 11 
 
 tlic nature of saving laitli, and the difficulties I found iu exercising 
 it. 1 instructed Lim in the distinctions that exist between the full 
 submission and surrender of the soul to God and those expectations 
 which often attend this surrender — expectations of some vivid token 
 or manifestation from God that we are accepted of Ilim, and expec- 
 tations whicli are generally doomed to disappointment, simply be- 
 cause they originate in a misapprehension of the gracious work of 
 God's spirit in the soul, and are iu nowise necessary to the progress 
 or perfection of that work, the first thing of all being the very sur- 
 render itself, which cuts off all expectation; and all the work which 
 man can do is summed up in those two familiar lines, so often sung 
 by Christians : 
 
 Hero, Lord, I p^ive myself away 
 
 'Tis all that I can do. 
 
 I then endeavored to turn his mind away from the thought of ex- 
 pecting to the simple work of submitting and surrendering all into 
 the hands of God, and distinctly made the proposal that he should 
 now, in the spirit of a little child and with unquestioning confidence, 
 commit all the interests of his entire being, for time and eternity, to 
 God, and asked if he would join me in a prayer thus consecrating 
 him forever to the Lord; to which he earnestly and promptly 
 assented. After prayer I gave him some further counsel, designed 
 to aid him in keeping to the solemn dedication of his soul to God 
 which had just been made, and after an interview somewhat pro- 
 tracted I took my leave of him for the time. 
 
 I then visited him daily for several days, watching the develop- 
 ment of what I cannot doubt was the gracious work of God's Holy 
 Spirit begun and progressing in the soul ; and in those subsequent 
 interviews I perceived that he was becoming more and more like a 
 little child, his faith more simple, and consequently more strong. 
 He said at length " that he thought he liad found the way." " I 
 have," he continued, "been thinkingmuchof those two lines repeated 
 the other day : 
 
 'HiTi', Lord, I give myself away; 
 "Tis all tliat 1 can do.' 
 
I begin to understand that this comprehends all, and I am beginning 
 to lean alone on Jesus Christ as my Saviour and friend." I repeated 
 to him several of the promises of the ]5iblc, on which liis mind seemed 
 to fasten with evident satisfaction. On one occasion he commenced 
 by saying, as I approached his bedside, " Well, my dear minister, 
 here I still am, trying to do two things — trying to get well and try- 
 ing to prepare to die." I told him " that though the issue was in 
 God's hands, yet I had strong hopes this sickness would not be unto 
 death ; that it seemed to me to be rather but another mercy of the 
 Lord in disguise, to give him that time for meditation and pi'ayer 
 which it would be impossible otherwise in the circumstances of his 
 position to obtain, and that when the moral purposes of his Heavenly 
 Father had been accomplished he would then be restored to his cus- 
 tomary walks in life, with an experience of affliction sanctified to his 
 highest good." But to this he made in substance his unvarying 
 reply, " That he could not divest himself of the conviction that he 
 would not recover." It seemed useless to try to shake his conclu- 
 sion in this respect, and I left him on that day resolved not to renew 
 the attempt. 
 
 On Tliursday, the 22d of March, there was an evident progress in 
 his spiritual experience, and I began now to think that his feet were 
 surely planted upon the Hock, and his hope was being confirmed. 
 On alluding to the effect of faith in Christ upon the mind, and 
 quoting to him the words from the 5th of Romans, " Therefore being 
 justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ," he spoke out in answer, as if carrying forward the conclu- 
 sion of the apostle, by repeating the following most suitable and 
 affecting lines : 
 
 "Jesus, the vision of thy face 
 
 Hath overpowering charms ; 
 
 I shall not fear death's cold embrace 
 
 If Christ he in my arms. 
 
 Then while ye hear my heartstrings break, 
 
 How sweet my minutes roll, 
 
 A mortal paleness on mj' cheek, 
 
 And glory in my soul." 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 13 
 
 Then, after prayer, in which he renewedly dedicated himself to 
 God, I again took leave of him. After this my interviews for the re- 
 mainder of that week were shorter, with less of incident than those 
 that had preceded, bnt of the same general character. During this 
 time I had been in conference with the Chaplain of the Senate, the 
 Rev. Dr. Gray, who had called several times, in the interest and 
 anxiety he felt for the spiritual welftxre of our friend, and for whom 
 Senator Foot entertained the warmest regard. 
 
 Thus he continued until Monday, March 26, when the symptoms 
 of his case became more alarming. The day before (being Sunday) 
 he had informed his friends it woidd be the last Sunday he should 
 spend with them on earth. Nothing then appeared to indicate a 
 change for the worse, and his friends received the suggestion as but 
 another proof of the mental depression so natural to disease of this 
 specific type. On this day, therefore, the physicians became alarmed, 
 and at one time it was thought he might not siirvive even a few hours. 
 But, rallying again, the feeble powers of nature made a stand, and 
 in the evening he seemed somewhat revived. I did not see him 
 during the day. But on Tuesday morning, March 27, I repaired 
 early to his chamber, arriving about 9 o'clock, and, with a short time 
 of absence, remaining until about the hour of 6 o'clock in the evening. 
 This was the last day with him on earth. As if forewarned of his 
 approaching end, he spent the whole day in receiving and parting 
 with his friends, and performing his last acts of religious devotion. 
 For several hours he talked almost incessantly, until he seemed to 
 have finislied his work and was ready to depart. As I approached 
 him in the morning there were none present at the moment but mem- 
 bers of the family, and I proposed we should have a season of prayer. 
 " Oh, yes," he immediately exclaimed, •♦ that is what I want — close 
 the door — shut it tight — and come then and kneel down and pray 
 here. Allkneel down ; all pray — pray that my faith may be strength- 
 ened ; that my heart may be renewed ; that my sins may be forgiven 
 through that one atonement of Jesus Christ ; that my views of it may 
 be clear; that I may see in it a sufficiency for the sins of the whole 
 world, and particularly for my sins, which have been so many and 
 
14 PROCEEDINGS ON THE 
 
 so aggravated during a long life, that they may all be cleansed away 
 and remembered no more!" 
 
 Then after prayer he repeated again, at our request, the lines 
 already quoted, and with great emphasis and appreciation. It was 
 now 10 o'clock, and the tidings that he was sinking brought many 
 of his friends to his bedside, among whom was the Secretary of State, 
 the Secretary of War, several of the senators and others of the Sen- 
 ate, the members of the Vermont delegation and others of the House 
 of Representatives, and many other persons in private life. About 
 12 o'clock Dr. Baxter, one of his physicians, came in and took hiui 
 by the hand with an emotion which he could not conceal from the 
 quick notice of the dying statesman. As if clearly reading the 
 thoughts of his friend, while sorrow was so deeply depicted on his 
 countenance, he immediately began to address him in language of the 
 most touching confidence and gratitude, and recalled many an affect- 
 ing reminiscence of his past intercourse with the members of his 
 family, especially with his father and himself. On my again ap- 
 proaching him he commenced by recalling the year and place 
 of my birth, and saying that at that time and in that place he 
 was a youth in his academic studies preparing for a college 
 course. When the friend at whose house he had been for 
 years during his stay in Washington came into his chamber 
 he immediately called her by name, recounted her care for him, 
 and loaded her with the most affecting assurances of thankful- 
 ness. 
 
 A few moments after, at the request of a friend, and when the 
 numbers present had somewhat diminished, he repeated for the third 
 time, and with his hands so placed together as if to emphasize and 
 impress them, the striking and impressive verses already quoted, and 
 then said, " Sing them ; I like to hear the voice of sacred singing ; it 
 bears me up as on the air of heaven." And to a suggestion that he 
 might be wearied by so many visits, so much excitement and talking, 
 be said, " No, it does not hurt me ; I rather desire it ; I am borne up 
 as on angels' wings ; it is no effort for me to converse or hear you 
 speaking." Ou the renewal of his wish to hear the singing we were 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 15 
 
 obliged to change the words he had repeated for that beautiful and 
 now familiar hymn — 
 
 " Just as I am — witliout one plea." 
 
 As we sang this he lay as if entranced by it, and suddenly per- 
 ceiving all present in tears, and liis Avife sobbing, her head bowed 
 upon his hand in the grief of her affection, he said, looking around on 
 the circle, " Why these tears'? There is no occasion for weeping. 
 This is heaven begun below ! I am only going home a little sooner, 
 that is all," At the conclusion of the hymn, as if repeating the 
 sentiment of the last stanza, he said, " I do trust in my Saviour." 
 
 A few moments aftcsr, when his brother, Dr. Foot, but two years 
 younger than himself, who had arrived a few days before from his 
 home in Canada, and to whom at their first meeting he had exj)ressed 
 the same feeling that he should not recover, now came toward him, 
 but, filled with emotion, immediately turned away to conceal it, he 
 said to me in an under tone, " If God has given it to me to leave 
 such a name as my family will not be ashamed to remember, it is 
 not a cause of pride or boasting, but of gratitude to Ilim only who 
 doeth all things well ; and if when I am gone they shall sometimes 
 think of me, and mention me as belonging to them, it will prove that 
 I have at least studied not to give them pain." 
 
 To Mrs. Browning, a trusted friend in the house, he said : " I am 
 glad to see you this morning ; these earthly partings are severe, but 
 there are no tears, no sorrows in heaven. There we shall meet, I 
 trust, ere long." 
 
 To Mrs. Woodbridge, Mr. DeWitt Clarke, the lion. Messrs. Mor- 
 rill and Baxter, and several others in humbler life, from Vermont, 
 who came during the day to inquire after his condition, and receive 
 his dying testimony, he addressed the most tender and affecting 
 words. 
 
 To his colleague. Senator Poland, who had just assumed in the 
 Senate the seat of the himented Collamer, and who, boarding in the 
 same house, and having a room almost adjacent to his chamber, was 
 several times by his bedside during the day, with a concern speak- 
 
ing ill his face for the anticipated loss of his dying friend which 
 none couhl fail to read, he committed in a special manner the great 
 trusts of their position in the Senate, saying : "I have finished 
 my work as a representative from Vermont in the councils of the 
 nation, and now, my dear colleague, it will be for you and my suc- 
 cessor in office! faithfully to represent the people of our State and 
 worthily to discharge the high responsibility they have thus im- 
 posed upon you.. I doubt not you will do this to the satisfaction 
 of the people not only in our State, but throughout the country." 
 
 AVhen Senator Doolittle approached his bedside, he immediately 
 stretched out his hand and said : " Dear brother, you have always 
 been kind to me — a dear, good brother senator; I can never reward 
 you, but you know where your reward lies. You have long been a 
 professor of the religion of the Gospel. You know what it is to 
 enjoy its consolations in sickness and in health. The mercy of God 
 has been very great to me in this sickness. I have so many kind 
 friends, so many angelic ministers all around me. It seems as 
 though a company of angels were all about me, and hovering over 
 me, to bear up a sinking spirit from its mortality." Then, after a 
 pause, as if reviewing his past life and endeavoring to recall its 
 conflicts, he said; "I have been trying to call to mind if there 
 was a human being on earth to whom I have intentionally done 
 wrong or injustice. If there is, I pray God to forgive me." And 
 on another occasion during the day he said, " If I have an enemy in 
 the world, I thank God I do not know it." 
 
 When Secretary Stanton entered the room, some time about mid- 
 day, he seemed very much gratified, and said: "You are kind to 
 visit me, Mr. Stanton. I am here yet, living and dying. I have no 
 acute pain, no severe distress ; but a general sinking of the system, 
 the constitution breaking up. But I am surrounded by so many 
 kind friends, they seem to bear me up as on angels' wings." The 
 Secretary of War then said to him, " The President had intended 
 to come with me to see you, but has been prevented by pressure of 
 business. If it is possible, however, to visit you to-day, he will do 
 so ; but he has delegated me to express to you his kind regards 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 17 
 
 and sjmpatliics." Not bearing the words distinctly, some one 
 repeated them, to ■whieli lie replied : "Oh, yes ; if he comes I would 
 be })leased to see him. It is twenty three years ago since we first 
 met. If the President comes I shall be glad to see him. The Secre- 
 tary always anticipates everything; he is one of the best men I ever 
 knew ; this world cannot reward him, but there is a God in heaven 
 who can do so, and I am sure he will not lose that reward. There 
 is a God on high who will not fail to reward him." Presently he 
 added, " I have a good deal of j)hysical strength left yet, so that I 
 might continue perhaps a week, but on that point I do not specu- 
 late." On the Secretary remarking that " Wc are all in God's 
 hands," he responded : " Oh, yes ; and He is dealing with me in 
 great mercy. The Lord reigns ; let the earth rejoice ! And well 
 may God reigu, and well may the earth rejoice that he does reign. 
 That there is a God who reigns over all, there can be no manner of 
 doubt. We do not come into this world by chance ; wc are not 
 creatures of accident. We have been born under a superintending 
 Providence, and are candidates for a certain immortality." Then 
 pausing again, as if contemplating his approaching departure, be 
 said : " When I leave this place, I wish no parade, no ostentatious 
 demonstrations to be made; only the ordinary proceedings which 
 custom and propriety impose ; and thus I desire to be borne to my 
 friends and home in Rutland, Vermont, and laid among the people 
 who have been so faithful to mc — more faithful, I fear, than I have 
 ever been to them. Let me be sent home to the people who have 
 done so much for mc ; they will prepare everything, and there by 
 them let me be buried." Some one remarked : " And there is your 
 minister, too." " Yes," he replied, with great warmth of feeling, 
 " they arc both there ; the one a venerable man of God, to whom I 
 have long listened." 
 
 Presently Mr. Bassett, the doorkeeper of the Senate, came 
 in, and was greeted in the same ardent and earnest manner by 
 the dying senator. He recalled his first meeting with him 
 fifteen years ago, and testified to his uniform kindness, and said, 
 " I cannot reward him, but God will do it ; and that will be 
 
 2 V 
 
a far better, liighor, more glorious reward tbau man can ever 
 bestow." 
 
 Some one again inquiring if be did not feel great exbaustion and 
 bodily distress, he replied, "Not much distress; tbis I consider one 
 of my comfortable days." Then turning he saw Mrs. Foot weeping 
 at the foot of the bed, with Mrs. Browning at her side. Tbis seemed 
 to pain him most deeply, and he said, pointing to his wife, " There 
 is my great grief, my beloved wife — to part from her is like tearing 
 the silver cord asunder." On being approached by these ladies, 
 Mrs. Browning remarked " that they had been jiermitted to enjoy 
 each other's society long on earth, and they indulged the hope that 
 this society would be resumed again in heaven." 
 
 "Oh, yes," he answered, "we have been afixmilylongheld together, 
 and memory is full of tender visions of the past. God grant they 
 may be renewed in another and better world !" 
 
 At this time Senator Fessenden approached him, to whom he 
 eagerly stretched out his hand and said, "My dear friend Fessenden, 
 the man by whose side I have sat so long, whom I have regarded 
 as the model of a statesman and parliamentary leader, on whom I 
 have leaned, and to whom I have looked more than to any other 
 living man for guidance and direction in public affairs, the grief I 
 feel is that the strong tie which has so long bound us together must 
 now be severed. But, my dear Fessenden, if there is memory after 
 death, that memory will be active, and I shall call to mind the whole 
 of our intercourse on earth." The senator thus addressed, too much 
 affected to reply in words, stooped over and kissed the brow of his 
 dying friend, and turned away in silence. Toward evening, when 
 it was intimated that the same senator had returned to inquire after 
 him, and he was asked if he desired to see him, his reply was 
 prompt — "Always," "always." With hands clasped they remained 
 for some time, the enfeebled senator repeating his greateful sense of 
 the friendship so long existing between them, and being in turn 
 assured of its reciprocal estimation by his friend. Some one observ- 
 ing that though parted for a time while on earth, they might have 
 hope of a reunion in the spirit world hereafter : " Oh, yes," he ex- 
 
claiincfl, with great orapliasis, "I believe in God and tlic life; eternal." 
 And finally, in a tone of affecting tenderness, he bade his friend 
 '•farewell," saying " CJood-by, and may God bless you forever- 
 more." 
 
 Afterwards Senator Grimes approachcMl him, to whom he said, 
 "Ah, my dear friend Grimes, have yon come to see me? I have 
 been through a terrible ordeal here the last six weeks." Then 
 noticing that all were deeply affected, he added, "Do not cease to 
 talk; these things cannot alarm me." Then taking the senator by 
 the hand, he said, " Yes, I know the man, a man about whom there 
 is no deceit ; Avith whom neither in private nor in public was there a 
 deceitful thought or a deceitful word." ITis friend then remarked 
 that he must have suffered very severely ; he replied, "I have sup- 
 posed that the frailty of human nature could not endure it so long; 
 and then recurring evidently to scenes of the past in which he had 
 mingled with hi.s friend, and as if soliloquizing, he added, "He was 
 one of the first and last and best of my associates, and there was no 
 mistake about him." Then turning to the senator, he said, as the 
 latter was about to leave him, "You are not going out of the city ?" 
 On being answered in the negative, they exchanged "forewells," 
 and were parted forever upon earth. 
 
 To another senator, Mr. Brown, who came in soon after, he said, 
 "I am glad to see you, my dear associate; you know what it is to 
 be a disciple of Christ. I hope we shall meet in heaven. This 
 world is a poor place for saint or sinner to dwell in forever. Its 
 scenes are passing away; its fashion perishes. There is nothing 
 steadfast, nothing stable here " And thus he continued for some 
 time, speaking to one and another, sending last tokens of love to 
 absent kindred and friends, and doing his last work on earth. 
 
 At about half past two o'clock, all being prepared, by his desire 
 and with the consent of his physician, who Avas indefatigable in at- 
 tending to every wish, in the presence of his family and a few Chris- 
 tian li-iends, he signified his public profession of faith in Christ by 
 receiving^ the symbols of the Lord's Supper, and joining, for the 
 first and last time on earth, in that communion which all God's 
 
cliildrou hope to renew in heaven. On receiving the bread into his 
 mouth, he uttered in a slow but sohnnn and reverential manner 
 these words: "This bread is the symbol of the broken body (if 
 Christ Jesus, through whom alone I hope for the mercy of God and 
 the gift of eternal life." This most affecting and solemn scene, ouly 
 to be appreciated and imderstood by those who have known experi- 
 mentally the life which it outwardly sets forth, was concluded by 
 singing the following lines, during which his soul seemed borne 
 away, indeed, as on angels' wings : 
 
 "How firm a fouudatiou, yi; saiuts of the Lord, 
 Is laid tor your faith in His excellent word ! 
 What ruore could he say than to you he hath said, 
 You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled — 
 The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
 I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; 
 That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
 I'll never, no, never! no, never forsake !" 
 
 After this he seemed to be satisfied, and ouly awaited the ap- 
 pointed hour of departure. 
 
 To Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, who visited him in the after 
 part of the day, he addressed similar words of tenderness, and ex- 
 changed with him the affectionate regards of their former friendli- 
 ness. 
 
 Between four and five o'clock a striking scene occurred. Senator 
 Foster, now the President pro tempore of the Senate, and in that 
 office one of Senator Foot's successors, came in to see him. Their 
 interview was peculiarly affecting. The dying man, stretching out 
 his hand to Mr. Foster, drew him to his side, and then addressed 
 him substantially as follows : "j\Iy dear friend, we have been sitting 
 in the Senate for years together. I have had for you the warmest 
 regard — confidence in your judgment, respect for your talents, and 
 a personal attachment on which no shadow of iinkindness has ever 
 rested. I have always considered you as a pattern of a Christian 
 statesman and a Christian gentleman." On being assured that his 
 sentiments were fully reciprocated, and that all his associates enter- 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 21 
 
 tiiinerl toward liirn a similar feeling, he answered, that for whatever 
 of kindness they had felt for him he Avas sincerely grateful ; but, 
 said he, " I am aware of my imperfections. I may have given them 
 offence — at times I must have done so. I know I have been a sin- 
 ner, and it is only of late that I have been able to hope in the par- 
 doning mercy of God, and to feel my title made sure to that future 
 inheritance which you, my dear friend, have been so long antici- 
 pating." After some further similar convesration, Senator Foster, 
 supposing he might be wearied, was about to take leave of him, and 
 then, while still their hands Avere clasped together, as if thinking of 
 the sainted dead who had gone before, and looking for the last time 
 into the face of a man who seemed destined so soon to join them, he 
 said : " I must bid you farewell, in hope that Ave may meet again in 
 heaven;" and stooping down he, too, left a silent, parting kiss on 
 the broAV of his dying friend. As he turned away, with melting 
 heart and tearful eye, the last Avords which fell upon his ear from 
 that couch of mortal Aveakness were, "Oh, yes; Ave shall meet 
 again in heaven, and the time will not be long. Farewell, dear 
 friend. God bless you OA^ermore !" The impressions borne away 
 from that chamber of death, and so strikingly expressed by Senator 
 Foster to the afflicted family as he took his departure, Avere indeed 
 such as to rob death of all his terrors, and to cause the living to 
 have been willing to exchange places if they might also change 
 prospects Avith the dying statesman. 
 
 But his hours Avere rapidly running out, and he seemed only too 
 eager for their conclusion. The day set ; the night Avore on. The 
 morning came again, and all this while he lay peacefully, attended 
 by gentle women, his kindred, whom he described repeatedly as 
 ministering angels sent to soothe and comfort him, and make light 
 his pathway to the tomb. At about seven o'clock on the morning 
 of Wednesday, the 28th of March, it was evident he could not much 
 longer surviA-e. Then, as if admonished by some invisible attendant 
 that his moments were few, he signified his desire to see once more 
 the light of the .sun in heaven, and the Capitol, on which it shone, 
 and where he had so long served the people of his State and country. 
 
and where his associates would soon again assemble. They lifted 
 him up, but his (syes were already dim. He sank back upon his 
 pillow. Seeing his time was at hand, the words of the 23d Psalm 
 wer(i then read, and a solemn prayer Avent up from the lips of 
 one, the dearest to him on earth, lie called her to his side, 
 and folded her in his arms for a moment; then, as his breath- 
 ing became choked, he said, " What, can this be death 1 Is it 
 come already V Then, lying a few moments longer, with eyes 
 all lull of celestial radiance, he lifted his hands and looked up, 
 exclaiming : " I see it ! I see it I The gates are wide open ! 
 beautii'ul ! beautiful !" and without a movement or pang imme- 
 diately expired. 
 
 I have no apology to offer for dwelling so long on the closing 
 scenes of one whom I loved as a father, and to whom for years past 
 1 have learned to look for a father's counsels in many of my earthly 
 affairs. Alas, how many will miss him in all the ranks and condi- 
 tions of society ! How will he be lamented by a bereaved and sor- 
 rowing people ! They shall tell to whom it more appropriately be- 
 longs. Others there are who will make the record of his history, 
 and depict the attributes of his private character, and trace the direc- 
 tion of his public life ; others there are who will show his position 
 in the mighty passage of the nation through one of its most eventful 
 and momentous periods; who will gather the garlands for his brow, 
 and erect a monument to his memory. It is ours to derive from the 
 solemn dispensation of I*rovidcuce, wliieh has thus removed him 
 from our midst, the practical lessons it is so pre-eminently designed 
 to enforce upon us. 
 
 1. First we see the difference between Pagan and Chi-istian light. 
 The sentiments of the ancients and of heathen sages now are and 
 were exceedingly uncertain, clouded, and obscure in respect to a 
 future state, and the conditions of happiness therein. Their hopes, 
 though often earnest, were and must be consequently far from having 
 a good and firm foundation on which to rest. But in the clearer light 
 of the Christian revelation all is consistent, significant, and satisfac- 
 tory. The deepest cravings of our nature are here met, and the 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 23 
 
 soul rests upon the word and promise of God as upon the basis of 
 an everlasting rock. 
 
 2. i\gaiu we see the nature and necessity of making preparation 
 for death and a future state. It is to believe in God and in the 
 record which He has given of His Son, that if thou shalt confess 
 with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And this 
 is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom He hath sent: and 
 then it is added in another place, " Show me thy faith without thy 
 works, and I will show thee my faith by my works ; for faith with- 
 out works is dead, being alone." Then since by nature we are alien 
 from God, having rebelled against Him, doth not reason teach, as well 
 as revelation declare, what is now so vitally enforced by our own ex- 
 perience even under human government and in this imperfect earthly 
 state of society, that there must be repentance and regeneration of 
 heart and reformation of life in order to the restoration of those who 
 have so rebelled and so endeavored to destroy the government and 
 disintegrate society itself? We cannot fail to see the reasonableness 
 and the imperative motive of all this under the Divine government, 
 however it may be questioned in those political systems which have 
 been erected by the hands of men. 
 
 3. We may see also from the example before us the inheritance of 
 a pious ancestry. They who consider the worth of things in their 
 proper light will readily assent to this great truth, that there is a 
 hereditariness of influence descending from generation to generation, 
 whicli renders the character of our ancestry a matter of the deepest 
 moment and concern to all their posterity. And on this point permit 
 me to introduce the testimony of an old friend and college class-mate 
 of the departed senator, which has just now been kindly furnished : 
 
 "When Solomon Foot was a member of college, he was living 
 witli a widowed mother, who had removed to Middlebury to give 
 her son the peculiar literary and religious advantages that the place 
 afforded. It was understood in the class that the father of Mr. Foot, 
 a physician, I think, by profession, had been a man of very decided 
 religious character ; and this was judged to be a favorable circum- 
 
8tance by the religious ruombcrs, when (^peculating on the probabili- 
 ties of the son's conversion. The father was judged ta man who must 
 have dci'ived great consolation, in his early sepai'ation from his family 
 by death, from a scripture passage like this : ' Leave thy fatherless 
 children ; I will preserve them alive, and let thy Avidows trust in me.' 
 " But the widowed mother of Mr. Foot is particularly remembered 
 by her j)revailing anxiety for his conversion and usefulness. I 
 scarcely can recollect an interview that I had with that excellent 
 lady, during my four years' residence at Middlebury, in which this 
 was not the burden of her conversation. I have often thought that 
 the mother of Augustine never felt more anxiety and persevering 
 desire for her son's conversion than did the mother of Solomon i'oot 
 lor his conversion." 
 
 4. We may see, too, the value of early religious training, and the 
 benefit of an h.abitual observance of the ordinances of God's house. 
 I have had occasion to observe many persons in the closing scenes 
 of life, and 1 have never tound one who had enjoyed such training 
 and observed such habits that did not exhibit the fruit of it in the 
 liiiiii hour. Nor did I ever see one who had gone through life M'itli- 
 out them that did not manifest a corresponding deficiency in senti- 
 ment, opinion, and experience, when the last trial came upon them. 
 This result must necessarily follow; and that human being who has 
 come into and gone out of this life without such a training and such 
 a habit deserves the most profound commiseration. 
 
 5. We may see, again, the consistency and dignity of a Christian 
 life and the satisfaction of a Christian hope. .Such a life bears in it 
 a self-demonstrating power; such a hoj)e is evidence of its own price- 
 less, inestimable nature. Those who have attained them in early 
 years, and worn them well to a good old age, show by their example 
 as well as their profession how true and how i-eal is the excellency 
 they possess. And those who have to regret their long neglect of or 
 indifference to .--uch a life and such a hope still bear witness to the 
 i comparable valu(! and desirableness of both. They are confirmed 
 by a sense botli of their loss and of their gain, both now and for 
 evermore. 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 25 
 
 6. We sec once more the beauty and glory of a Christian death 
 and the abounding t'aithfuhiess of a covenant-keeping God. What 
 clearness, calmness, composure, moral sublimity, in the chamber where 
 a child of (Jod is dying! How surely, tenderly, punctually is the 
 Almighty power and grace vouchsafed to make "all that bed in 
 peace," and to fill the dying scene with memorials the most living 
 and the most lasting and the most affecting of all human experience 
 on earth ! And it is God's power and verity dis^^layed when lie 
 says, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee !" Oh, who in view 
 of all this would not strive to lead this life, that our departure from 
 it may be joyful and triumphant ? And who would not exclaim with 
 one of old and with a clearer motive, " Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his ?" 
 
 At the conclusion of Rev. Dr. Sunderland's eloquent discourse, 
 during the delivery of which the immense audience was sensibly 
 moved, Rev. Dr. Boynton, chaplain of the House of Representatives, 
 offered a fervent prayer and pronounced the benediction. 
 
 The order of procession was then announced by Senator Doolittle, 
 chairman of the committee of arrangements, as follows : 
 Chaplains of Congress for the occasion. 
 The I'hysicians who attended the Deceased. 
 
 :\[r 
 
 Doolittle, 
 
 
 ^ r 
 
 [ Ciiiuniittcf of J 
 ' Arraugeiiifiits. 
 
 JNIr. Hendricks, 
 
 Mr 
 Mr. 
 
 Anthony, 
 Howard, 
 
 
 Mr. Sherman, 
 Mr. ]hickalew. 
 
 Mr. 
 
 Fessenden 
 
 
 1 r 
 
 1 
 
 Mr. Guthrie, 
 
 Mr. 
 
 Harris, 
 
 
 } Pall-beun-rs. < 
 
 Mr. Lane, of Indiana, 
 
 Mr. 
 
 Johnson, 
 
 
 J 1 
 
 THE CORPt^E. 
 
 Mr. Sumner. 
 
 
 The Y 
 
 imily 
 
 and Friends of t 
 
 ;e Deceased. 
 
 The Senator and Representatives from the State of Vermont, as 
 Mourners. 
 
2G 
 
 PROCEEDINGS ON THE 
 
 Citizens of the State of Vcnuont. 
 
 The Sergcant-at-arms of the Senate of the United States. 
 
 The members of the Senate, preceded by the President of the 
 
 Senate pro Icm. and Secretary of the Senate. 
 
 The Acting Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives. 
 
 The members of tlie House of Ilcpresentatives, preceded 
 
 by its Speaker and Clerk. 
 
 The President of the United States. 
 
 The Heads of Departments. 
 
 The Diplomatic Corps. 
 
 Judges of the United States. 
 
 Officers of the Executive Departments. 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy. 
 
 The Mayor of Washington. 
 
 Citizens and Strangers. 
 
 The procession moved through the rotundo of the Capitol, out of 
 the east door, and around the eastern grounds down to the depot of 
 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The next morning the corpse was 
 taken to Rutland, Vermont, escorted by Senators Poland, of Ver- 
 mont; Doolittle, of Wisconsin; Ramsey, of Minnesota, and Riddle, 
 of Delaware, with the family and personal friends of the deceased ; 
 atteiided by A. P. Gorman, Deputy Sergeant-at-arms of the Senate. 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 27 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT RUTLAND, VERMONT. 
 
 Rejnarks of RJcssrs. PoLAXD and DoOLITTLE. 
 
 On the arrival of the remains of Mr. Foot at Ruthind, Vermont, 
 they were temporarily deposited in the United States conrt-house, 
 which is in itself a monument to his memory, for it was mainly 
 through his exertions that appropriations were passed for its erection, 
 and in it he deposited his valuable law library. 
 
 In transferring the care of the remains from the senatorial com- 
 mittee to the committee of arrangements of the State of Vermont, 
 Mr. Poland said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Friends : We come to you in the perform- 
 ance of a sad and melancholy duty. I come nominally as the chair- 
 man of a committee of the Senate of the United States, appointed 
 to attend the remains of our deceased brother and your townsman 
 and friend, the Hon. Solomon Foot, to his h^tate and home. But the 
 real character in which I come is that of one of his mourners, and I 
 believe I can most truly say that aside from those closely co)inected 
 to him by the ties of kindred, theie is no one who more sincerely 
 mourns his loss, or feels more deeply the bereavement caused by 
 his death, than I do. The feeling of grief is too deep and personal 
 to allow me to properly express myself upon this occasion, and I 
 have therefore requested one of my colleagues of the committee, 
 Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, to act as the organ of the committee 
 in communicatiug our sad message to you. 
 
 Mr. DooLiTTLK said : 
 
 ilR. Chairman and Gentlkmen of the Committee: As my 
 
 colleague upon the committee has truly said, we have come upon a 
 sad errand. We have been commissioned by the Senate of the United 
 States to bear home to Vermont all that is mortal of Solomon Foot. 
 These remains, this precious dust, will now pass from our charge, 
 as a committee of the Senate, to you, as representing the people of 
 
liis native State. It is no time or place for eulogy. Our hearts 
 are too full for that. A great sorrow has fallen upon the Senate, 
 and upon the whole country, as well as upon Vermont. That he 
 was distinguished as a statesman and senator all the world knows ; 
 but what 1 desire to say, and what my heart most prompts mc to say, 
 is, not that he was distinguished, honored, and respected, but that he 
 was beloved by every member of the Senate, of every political party. 
 All were his personal friends. Enemies he had none. The oldest 
 member of the body in continuous service, he was revered as the 
 father of the Senate. Often called upon to be its presiding officer, 
 and always watchful of its honor, he did more than any other to 
 preserve its dignity and decorum. But he has left the Senate. His 
 j)lace we canuot fill. His like we may not look upon. Gentlemen, 
 here in that cotHn is his lifeless body. We commit it to your charge. 
 Our mission in behalf of the Senate is fulfilled ; our sad but sacred 
 office performed; our woi-k done. We are now ready to return. But 
 I cannot take leave of you without saying that I am here in another 
 character, and, as the bearer of another message from him, as a dying 
 man, to you, the people of Rutland and Vermont. Bear in mind 
 that for more than eight years we had been in constant daily political 
 and friendly intercourse, a part of the time lodging under the same 
 roof, and most of the time sitting at the same table. He was to me 
 like a father or an elder brother. In these intimate relations I came 
 to know him well, and to love him more. But I did not know how 
 much I loved him, until standing at his bedside, the dying man 
 stretched out his hand, and clasping mine in his, said : " Dear brother, 
 you have always been kind to me — a dear, good brother senator. I 
 can never reward you; but you know where your reward lies." 
 I could not speak. But he continued in a clear and distinct voice, 
 Avhih' his face beamed with a heavenly light, to speak of the religion 
 of the Gospel, and of its consolations in sickness and in health. 
 Among oth(;r things, I remember he said: "The mercy of God has 
 been very great to me in this sickness. 1 have so many kind friends ; 
 like so many angelic ministers all around me. It seems as though 
 a company of angle.s were all about me, to bear up my sinking 
 
spirit." Then, after a pause, he said, "I have been trying to recall 
 if there is any human being upon earth whom I have intentionally 
 wronged or injured. I do not now remember any ; but if there be 
 any 1 pray that God will forgive me." I will not attempt to tell 
 you all he said. Before I left the room, however, he said, in the 
 same clear voice, to another: ''The Lord reigns; let the earth 
 rejoice! It is well that he does reign; and the people have reason 
 to rejoice that he does reign. Yes, God reigns over all; there can 
 be no doubt of that. We do not come into this world by mere 
 chance ; we are not creatures of accident. We are born to an eternal 
 life." Ilere he paused a few moments, and then uttered that dying- 
 message, which 1 now bear to you. "When I leave this chamber," 
 said he, "I wish no parade, no ostentatious demonstrations to be 
 made; only the ordinary proceedings which custom and propriety 
 impose; I desire to be borne to my friends and home in Rutland, 
 Vermont — a people Avho have always been faithful to me — more 
 ftiithful to me than I have been to them, I fear. They have done 
 so much for me. I have no house there, but they will provide every- 
 thing needful, and there, by them, among that ])co])le, let me be 
 buried." This is the message which I bring to you from your dying 
 friend. I was not present when he breathed his last; but from the 
 account which I received immediately after from those who were 
 present, his consciousness remained clear to the last, and his utter- 
 ance distinct almost to the very last breath. In his last words, dis- 
 tinctly uttered, he left another message, which speaks not only to 
 you and to me, but to all men, and for all time. In all history, I 
 do not remember to have read of a dying Christian whose last words 
 were more touching, more heavenly, and more triumphant over death 
 and the grave. Seeing his time was at hand, the words of the twenty- 
 third Psalm were then repeated to him by his wife. He called her 
 to his side, folded his arms around her for a moment ; then, as his 
 breathing became more choked, he said: "What! Can this be 
 death ? So easy 1 Is it come already?" In a few moments after, 
 with a face lighted up, as with a soul just entering into Paradise, he 
 joyfully exclaimed : " I see it ! I see it ! The gates are wide open ! 
 
Beautiful ! Beautiful !" And in a very few moments after uttering 
 these words lie expired. As a statesman and senator we honor him ; 
 as a man of noble character, we cherish his memory ; as a true and 
 faithful friend, we love him; as a dying Christian, what a glorious 
 example has he left to all mankind ! 
 
 Colonel W. T, Nichols, on behalf of the Committee of Arrange- 
 ments, replied : Mr. Chairman and Senators : The p(;ople of Ver- 
 mont, through a committee of the people of this town, accept the 
 completion of the trust committed to your charge by the Senate of 
 the United States, and receive at your hands the mortal remains of 
 your distinguished colleague, and their honored and faithful repre- 
 sentative. We .receive what Avas mortal of our renowned and honored 
 senator, our worthy citizen, our valued friend, as a sacred trust com- 
 mitted to our Keeping. We receive the trust in sorrow, and will 
 guard it tenderly. Your recital of the dying moments of the Hon. 
 Solomon Foot fills our hearts too full for utterance in words. We 
 mourn, and the people of Vermont are mourning to-day, at the loss 
 of one of our greatest and best men. You have been pleased to 
 allude to the high and honorable position occupied while living by 
 him whose shrouded form lies before us. It is not fitting for me, at 
 this hour and in this presence, to pronounce words of eulogy upon 
 the character and public career of him who held for long years to 
 this community the tenderer, the nearer and dearer relation than that 
 of a trusted and distinguished representative in the highest branch 
 of the national councils — the relation of a true and tried friend to the 
 whole people ; but in justice to his memory it may be said that the 
 people of tiie State, which he honored by his services and his blame- 
 less life, were not indifferent observers, nor even unmindful that his 
 usefulness, his name and fame, were national in extent; and, sir, 
 while the honor of achieving such renown and influence was all his 
 own, his State appropriated to itself an honest and unbounded pride 
 in such a senator, and claimed his name and tame for Vermont. You 
 have brought his remains from the halls of ttie American Senate 
 chamber to the quiet retreat of his chosen home among the moun- 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 31 
 
 tains of his native State, and communicated to us his dying message 
 of gratitude to the people of his State and his home. We thank 
 you, and througli you tender our thanks and appreciation to the 
 Senate who committed this trust to you. We assure you that if his 
 colleagues had learned to love and to honor him in his older and riper 
 years, the people Avho had known him earliest and longest hon- 
 ored and loved him best. And, sir, had there been any higher honor 
 than a seat in that grand Areopagus of the American people — the 
 Senate — the people of Vermont would have placed him in that higher 
 position had it been in their power to do so. We take his mortal re- 
 mains from your hands, and in the spot of his own choosing shall 
 commit them to the earth — "dust to dust, and ashes to ashes ;" but 
 while it will be tenderly, sacredly done, it will be done sorrowfully, 
 mournfully, tearfully. That done, we will chisel the granite shaft, 
 solid, jilain, and simple, like his life and character, and strew his 
 grave with the laurel and the cypress ; but in the respect and grati- 
 tude of the people of his home, a monument is already raised to his 
 memory more enduring than the granite. 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DEATH or HON. SOLOMON FOOT, 
 
 IX THE SEMATE OF THE UNITED >STATES, 
 THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 18G6. 
 
 Address of ]\Ir. Poland, of Vermont. 
 Mr. President: I ollcr tli(> Ibllowiiig resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to infbriii 
 the House of Uepreseutativ(;t^ that the Senate, having listened to 
 eulogies upon the character and puhlic services of the lion. Solomoat 
 Foot, a senator from the State of Vermont, lately deceased, out of 
 respect to his memory, have voted to adjourn. 
 
 Mr. President, two weeks ago tliis day it was my 
 painful duty to announee to the KSenate the death of 
 my distinguished and beloved colleague, the Hon. Solo- 
 mon Foot. The little time that elapsed between his 
 decease and the funeral ceremoni(>s here, and the absence 
 of one of my colleagues of the House of Kepre- 
 sentatives, who was Mr. Foot's immediate representa- 
 tive, were deemed sutheient reasons for j^ostponing tlie 
 customary obituary tributes to some future day. In 
 accordance with the notice then given, I now ask that 
 the Senate for a short time lay aside its ordinary busi- 
 ness, and allow me and others the melancholy satishic- 
 
 3 F 
 
tioii of expressing our appreciation ol" the cluiracter, 
 services, and virtues of our departed associate and 
 friend. The last occasion of this kind in this chamlier 
 was early in the present session, in memory of my 
 lamented ])redecessor. Judge Collamcr. No one of us 
 will ever forget the eloquent and loving words of Mr. 
 Foot on that occasion in dwelling upon the memory of 
 his long-time friend and colleagne. As we looked at 
 his robust and majestic form, and listened to his deep, 
 rich voice and solemn, weighty words, how little we 
 thought that in so short a time he, too, would have 
 l)ecome only an object of memory and a subject of 
 eulogy. Who next in this body of representatives of 
 States shall be called from this high place to the unseen 
 world ? No one of us can tell. How solemnly are we 
 reminded that death comes as a thief in the night, and 
 how wisely arc we cautioned, "Be ye also ready." 
 
 Mr. Foot was born in Cornwall, Addison county, 
 Vermont, on the 19th day of November, 1802. I have 
 not been able to learn anything in relation to his early 
 life, but I infer that his family condition was such as to 
 make all attainment and advancement .in life depend 
 upon his own efforts and labors. I infer this from the 
 liict that he graduated from IMiddlebury college about 
 1826 or 1827, and somewhat later in life than is usual 
 with young men where the means of education arc 
 provided by others." After his graduation he spent 
 some time in teaching, and at the same time studying 
 law. After his admission to the bar he commenced 
 
practice in the town of RutlaiK], Vermont, and tliat 
 continued to he bis place of residence np to the time 
 of his death. 
 
 lie was elected a representative from the town of 
 Rutland to the Vermont house of representatives in 
 1833, 1836, 1837, and 1838, and again in the year 1847, 
 and during the last three of those years was speaker of 
 the house. He was a member of the State constitu- 
 tional convention in 183G, which made the im[)()rtant 
 alteration in our State constitution of cxcbanmnsf the 
 old legislative council for a State senate. He also held 
 the office of prosecuting attorney for Rutland county 
 from 1836 to 1842. In 1842 Mr. Foot was elected to 
 the lower house of Congress, and re-elected in 1844, 
 but declined further election. In 1850 he was elected 
 to the Senate of the United States, re-elected in 1856, 
 and again in 1862, and at the time of his death was the 
 oldest memljcr in continuous service in this hod}'. 
 
 Mr. Foot very soon attained a highly respectable 
 position as a lawyer. He was careful and attentive to 
 the interests of his clients, and always made full and 
 elaborate preparation for the trial o4" his causes. If his 
 life had been devoted to his profession, he would doubt- 
 less have attained high rank as a lawyer. But his 
 attention was early turned to political life, and his pro- 
 fessional career was too broken and desultory to enable 
 him to attain the highest distinction in it. His ability 
 and character were far l>etter suited to a public and 
 popular rather than a more professional life. He had 
 
■tUKKSSrUST!: 
 
 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 been 1)ul a very finv years at the l)ar, and a resident oi" 
 the town of liutla nd, when he was chosen to represent 
 that town in the State h'gislature. It was quite rare 
 at that day that so young a nian was chosen to repre- 
 sent one of tlie oklcst and most important towns in the 
 State, and which contained many leach ng pLd)lic men 
 ])ut he had ah^eady attained a high position as an able 
 and ])opular speaker upon pul)li(t and political questions, 
 and his career in the State legislature added to this a 
 reputation as a wise and careful legislator. 
 
 It was as sj)eaker of the Vermont house of re})re- 
 sentatives tliat he first displayed that almost wonderful 
 aptitude and capacity as the presiding officer of a delib- 
 erative assembly which afterwards made him so cele- 
 l)rated throughout the nation when he l)ecame the 
 })residing officer of the Senate of the Unit(Hl States, as, 
 perhaps, the best presiding officer in the whole country, 
 lie seemed almost to have l^een made lor the position. 
 His fine, majestic jierson, his dignified deportment, his 
 full and rich voice, his easy and graceful manner, all 
 conspired to make him a most useful and acceptable 
 ])resi(lent over any a^send)ly. Ilis knowledge of parlia- 
 mentary law and usage was very thorough, but not 
 more so, probably, than many others. His superiority 
 ill this respect appeared born in him. His look })re- 
 served order: the slightest word allayed confusion. 
 The same grace of person and dignity of manner 
 attended him ahvays and everywhere, and was ecpially 
 pleasing and agreeable in private society or on the 
 
Sc'iiate floor. It bad iiotliiiig of haughtiness or arro- 
 gance, but was kindly and benignant. It had doubtless 
 much to do with the abnost universal personal love and 
 reverence felt for him by all who knew him. 
 
 Mr. Foot was not a man of great originality. I am 
 not aware of any great public measure that he origi- 
 nated. He did not take much part in the debates 
 in the Senate upon general subjects, but he w^as 
 always in his seat, careful and watchful of all measures, 
 with excellent judgment of what was for the public 
 interest. A mend)er of the present cabinet, who served 
 ten years with him in the Senate, said to me during 
 Mr. Foot's sickness, that he never knew a man whose 
 votes were always more consistently right than his. 
 When he did speak in the Senate, it was generally with 
 careful preparation, and then he spoke wisely and well, 
 and was listened to with great attention and respect. 
 He was always taithful and prompt in his attendance 
 on his committees, in making his reports, and in the 
 performance of every public duty; but it was especially 
 in his duty to his State, and the people of his State, 
 that his watchfulness, energy, and untiring eiforts were 
 mainly directed, No interest of Vermont was allowed 
 to suffer or remain unguarded, either in Congress or in 
 any department of the general government. And so 
 with every citizen of the State having right or claim or 
 ]iroper request upon any department of the government, 
 .Mr. Foot made it his own special duty to see it 
 righted. 
 
IIo loved and hoiiorod Vermont; he was proud lliat 
 it was the jdaee of his birth. More tlian once since I 
 l)ecame his colleague he has mentioned the tact to me 
 that never l)efore was Vermont represented in the 
 Senate hy two of her sons born on her own soil, and 
 he seemed to dwell on the idea with great satisfaction. 
 During his illness, and aftcu- he became satisfied he 
 should not recovi^r, he loved to speak of being carried 
 back 1o his native State; of ])eing buried under the 
 shadow of her grand mountains and green hills, and 
 within sound of her waterfalls, and that his grave 
 would be among his own peo[)l(^ whom he loved, and 
 who loved him so well. 
 
 ^Ir. Foot's real gi'eatness and the cause of his uni- 
 versal popularity I have not yet named. Some men 
 arc called great from a single great action — others hy a 
 few great deeds. i\Ir. Foot was a great man by reason 
 of his great heart ; not a single act or several acts of 
 great statesmanship, but a litctime of good and gen- 
 erous and unselfish deeds, made him great, and gave 
 him such a hold uj>on the hearts of the people of his 
 own State and others who knew him. 
 
 His mental faculties were of a high order ; his ac- 
 (luiremcnts were very respectable indeed ; his judgment 
 was excellent; he had extraordinary gifts of person 
 and manners; l)ut many men possessing all these in 
 c([ual degree would never have attained a tithe of the 
 honor and res[)ect he did. It was his generous, warm- 
 hearted love and sympathy for his fellows, and his 
 
(exhibition of it to them and tor tlieni at all tinier, that 
 induced their love and respect tor him. You saw with 
 me the general exhibition of sorrow tor his death here, 
 where he had been so long and was so well known and 
 so highly respected ; but it was my fortune to l)e one 
 of your committee to attend his remains to his old 
 home and among the neighljors and associates of his 
 daily home life. Had you witnessed the deep gloom 
 and sadness that hung over that whole community, the 
 tears that fdled so many eyes as we fulfilled our melan- 
 choly duty, you might well have exclaimed, " Behold 
 how they loved him !" Living in another part of the 
 State from Mr. Foot, and our pursuits for many years 
 having been so ditferent, I had never much personal 
 intimacy with him until the commencement of the 
 present session, when I became his colleague. From 
 that time till his death we lived in the same house, and 
 tdl his sickness at the same table. I soon saw why all 
 loved and respected him, and shared their sentiments in 
 the fullest manner. 
 
 The infinite pains he took to make my position agree- 
 aljle ; to make me acquainted with the course and details 
 of l)u.siness in the Senate; the ])roperofiices and depart- 
 ments for everything — in short, the whole routine of con- 
 gressional drudgery, which it is so important for every 
 man to know, and still every man is expected to find out 
 lor himself — was what I did not expect iwm him, and 
 probably should have received from no other man. But 
 with his nature he could hardly have avoided doing it. 
 
The circumstances of his sickness and death were 
 such that general pubhcity has been given to various 
 interviews and partings between him and vahied 
 friends, solemn and affecting in their character and 
 interest I took my hist leave of him on that same 
 afternoon before his death. I could not now attempt 
 to describe it, but I shall never forget his affectionate 
 language or his solemn benediction at our parting. 
 
 I mourn his loss in common with all who knew him; 
 but, with all who believe in the heaven hereafter, I 
 doubt not that our loss is his infinite gain. His trium- 
 phant Christian death was a fitting end for so loving 
 and useful a life. 
 
 Well may w^e all })ray that our lives and our deaths 
 may be like his. Sorely, indeed, has my native State 
 been stricken ; her two most distinguished sons, long 
 her joint representatives in this body, where they rep- 
 resented her with so much ability, usefulness, and 
 credit, both taken away by death, and so near each 
 other that the stunning eflect of the first blow had 
 hardly passed when the other came. God grant that 
 those who have survived and succeeded them may be 
 enabled in some degree to emulate their virtues and 
 usefulness to the State and people thus bereaved ! 
 
Address of Mi'. Johnson, of Maryland. 
 
 Mr. J^kksident: I ]-is(; l)ii(Hy lo parlicij);.i1e in j)it\- 
 m^r honor to llic ni('iij(jrv of our departed iriciid and 
 associate. Sucli tribute's to virtues, j)u])lie and privaic, 
 as he possessed, cannot fail to benelit the hving as well 
 as lienor the dead. They show those who are com- 
 mencing liie how it is, and what it is, to earn a name 
 that will live altcM* death, and b(; io iamily and Iriends 
 a p]-ieel(.'ss h(;ritage. They show the vahu; (jf h(jnest 
 lame, a ilimc; which survives death, and becomes brighter 
 as time rolls on. They show how immeasurably supe- 
 ri(jr in the estimation of the good is such fame to that 
 sickly evanescejit one which is occasionally achieved by 
 artful and dishonorabh; cojitrivances. 
 
 The life, too, of a Christian man, as Solomon Foot 
 was, if no other evidence existed of the truth ot" the 
 Christian dispensation, would be sufficient to demon- 
 strate it. Its influence upon hinj in this world, its 
 comfort, its joy to him in death, is sufficient to estab- 
 lish its divine origin lie who with evident sincerity, 
 and while his rniiid was as perfect as ever, nearly at 
 the moment oi" dissolution, could say that he i'aM 
 " boriKj uj) as on angels' wings," and in the \vYy mo- 
 ment preceding it, with hand and eyes uplifted, could 
 exclaim, "I see it! I sr'e it! The gates arc wide open! 
 Beautiful ! Beautiful !" and then die, is a witness to 
 our faith that the sophistries of skepticism can never 
 counteract. 
 
The memory of such a man shoiihl not 1)0 lost. It 
 is not rnoufih thai it may survive in the rrcoUection oi' 
 his family and iiientls ; it should live in the records of 
 the body to which he was so lonj^ attached, and which 
 he so iiiithfully served and honored. The Senate of the 
 United States should per])etuate the; evidence that 
 Solomon Foot was t()r years one of its most honored 
 meml)ers, r(\spected, a(hiiired, loved l)y every associate 
 for his iaithfulness, his patriotism, his endearing social 
 qualities, and revered ibr his Christian death. This 
 will be done by the proceedings of this (hiy. 
 
 Mr. Foot's pul)lic career is now so well known that 
 it would 1)0 idl(5 in me to attem])t its detail. This has 
 been done l)y his colleague. Seldom engaging in de- 
 bate, we yet knew, in advance, the result to which his 
 sound judgment, ewr unswayed by passion or prejudice, 
 would lead him. Though in a largo and comprehensive 
 sense a party man, his principles were adopted because 
 they, in his estimation, led to general and not partial 
 good. No sectional Jeeling ever consciously inlluenced 
 him. His mind and his heart embraced his whole 
 country, and he loved even his native Vermont, to 
 which he was so strongly attached, the more because 
 i1 was a })art of the great whole. His reading, his 
 iamiliarity willi the history of his country, .his expe- 
 rience had convinced him that national ])rosperity and 
 renown, as v\-ell as the happiness of the several States, 
 could only l)e attained tiirough the Union established 
 l)y our fathers, and he could never, therefore, tolerate 
 
lliose who threatened its dissolution or ibolishly 
 attempted, with a view to depreciate it, to calculate its 
 value. In heart and mind a Unionist, he entered zeal- 
 ously into all the measures calculated to terminate our 
 recent civil strife ; and although in some respects, I 
 believe, not a very sanguine man, he never doubted a 
 successful result. It was encouraging to hear him 
 spenk on the subject. lie had studied our institutions, 
 liad become extensively acquainted with our people, 
 and knew how deep was their attachment to the gen- 
 eral government ; and with this knowledge he was 
 satisfied that the first were adequate to meet the emer- 
 gency if their powers were exerted, and that the latter 
 would peril all to have them exerted. lie lived, thank 
 God, to see his prediction verified. When he left us 
 he knew that the strife was over, the Union everywhere 
 reinstated in all its rightful authority, and that nothing 
 remained to l)e done l)ut l)y proper efforts to calm the 
 agitation inseparable from such a contest, and win us 
 all back into our ancient lirotherhood. 
 
 Mr. President, although we shall no more see our late 
 l)rother in this chamber, which of us will ever forget 
 his manly presence, his uniform dignity, his ever con- 
 stant watchfulness over the proper decorum of the 
 body, his unbending firmness, his uniform courtesy as 
 its frequent presiding officer ? And, above all, which 
 of us who listened to the touching story of his last days 
 on earth, as recently told us by the reverend clergynum 
 who was his pastor in this city, but will have cause to 
 
rejoice it" he can live and die as lived and died Solomon 
 Foot — dyin.'r, to use; his own truthful words in his 
 eulo<i:y on his former colleague, Jacob Collanier, so 
 atlectingly delivered in this chamber on the 14th of 
 December last, and so strikhigly ai)plicable to himself^ — 
 " in the full exercise of his intellectual faculties, with 
 an abiding and unshaken faith in the Christian religion, 
 and in tlie cherished hope of a blissful immortality I" 
 
 Address of j\Ir. Fessenden, of Maine. 
 
 Mk. President: In attempting to speak of one so 
 long associated with ns, and endeared to us by so many 
 rare and excellent qualities, as the late Senator Foot, I 
 cannot but feel impressed with the difficulty of doiug 
 perfect justice either to the man or the occasion; a 
 ditbculty increased by the long, uninterrupted, almost 
 brotherly, friendshi[) which existed between him and 
 myself But, difficult as the task may be, I cannot, if 
 I would, withhold my tribute to the character and 
 niemorv of one so much beloved, and who is held by 
 all his associates in most airectionate rcmeml)rance. 
 
 The death of our friend was so unlooked for, his 
 promise of prolonged life and continued usefulness 
 seemed so secure, it is hard to realize that his i)lace is 
 vacant, and that we shall see him no more upon earth. 
 But yesterday he stood among us, imposing in the 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 45 
 
 beauty and statcliness of perfect manhood, his face 
 beaming with kindliness, his whole aspect dignitied and 
 serene, glowing with health and vigor; to-day all that 
 was mortal of onr friend and brother reposes in a 
 distant grave, among those by whom he w^as loved, and 
 trusted, and honored — a grave watered by many tears, 
 and venerated for its sacred^dust — while the true and 
 noljle spirit which once animated that clay has ascended 
 to give an account of its mission upon earth, and to 
 enjoy, as we may well believe, the reward of a well- 
 spent life. 
 
 An event like this, touching in its signilicance, be- 
 comes the more startling when follo\\'ing closely upon 
 another scarcely less impressive. In a single session 
 of the Senate, within a lew short months, we hear the 
 announcement that Death has laid his icy fingers upon 
 both senators from one of the States of this Union, 
 each a man of eminent mark in this body, and at a 
 period when the loss of their wisdom, their experience, 
 their patriotism, their unswerving integrity, and un- 
 selfish devotion to their country's good, is most severely 
 felt. That State has many noble and most worthy 
 sons among whom it may choose for places of trust 
 and honor; but no State can give at once to the public 
 councils the assurance, which time only can bestow, of 
 that fitness which experience and trial alone can prove 
 and secure. 
 
 When, Mr. President, a man, however eminent in 
 other pursuits, and whatever claims he may have to 
 
46 
 
 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 ])ul)lit' ('onfidcMice, bccouics a momhor of lliis body, ho 
 has much to h;ani and much lo endure. Little docs 
 he know of what he will have lo encounter. He may 
 be well read in public aifairs, l)ut he is unaware of the 
 difficulties which must attend and end^arrass every 
 edort to rentier what he may know available and use- 
 ful, lie may be upright m purpose and strong in th(! 
 belief in his own integrity, but he cannot even dream 
 of the ordeal to which he cannot fail to be exposed; of 
 how much courage he must possess to resist the temp- 
 tations which daily l)eset him; of that sensitive shrink- 
 ing from undeserved censure M-liich he must learn to 
 control; of the ever- recurring contest between a natural 
 desire for ])ublic approbation and a sense of public 
 duty; of the load of injustice he must be content to 
 l)ear, even from those who should be his friends; the 
 imputations on his motives; the sneers and sarcasms of 
 ignorance and malice; all the manifold injuries which 
 partisan or private malignity, disappointed of its object, 
 may siiower upon his un[)rotected head. All this, if 
 he would retain his integrity, he must learn to bear 
 unmoved, and walk st(»adily onward in the path of 
 public duty, sustained only by the reflection that time 
 may do him justice, or, if not, that his individual hopes 
 and aspirations, and vwn his name among men, should 
 be of little account to him when weighed in the balance 
 against the vvelfirc of a people, of wdiose destiny he is 
 a constituted guardian and defender. 
 
 To such an ordeal, Mr, President, our lamented 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 47 
 
 irieiid was sul)je'cte(l for fourteen years, at a most trying 
 period, and admirably did he bear the triaL Coming 
 to the Senate when two antagonist forces had pro- 
 claimed what soon proved to l)e a hollow truce, he was 
 ;i witness to the outbreak which marked its termina- 
 tion, and was a party to the struggle wdiich, after several 
 years, eventuated in civil war. From the first moment 
 his course was clearly defined. Representing a people 
 of strong convictions, and himself a child of free insti- 
 tutions, he could not but become their champion. As- 
 suming no leadership, content io follow so long as the 
 measures proposed commended themselves to his judg- 
 ment and his conscience, his firm and vigorous su})port 
 was always to be relied on as a certainty. He was not 
 one to make capital lor himself at the expense of his 
 country, or of those with whom he acted If work 
 was to be done, he was ready to do it. If a trying 
 moment came, it found him prepared. Whatever of 
 dire portents might shoot across the political sky, with 
 unshrinking heart he stood erect to meet, and, if pos- 
 sible, to avert, the threatened calamity. Deeply lament- 
 ing the terrible issue, sad and sometimes almost de- 
 spairing as he witnessed its sanguinary results, there 
 was no moment of doubt, not even of hesitation, with 
 him. Let us rejoice and l)e thankful that he lived to 
 see the dawn of a brighter day. 
 
 Through all this long period of fourteen years, 
 checkered as they were with great events, the course 
 of ordinary legislation has required a high degree of 
 
I ^inwi'iTni tn ur i itet 
 
 48 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 intellectual power. In a country like ours, where pro- 
 gress is so ra})id, change so instantaneous, the human 
 mind so active, new fields of effort so broad and diver- 
 sified, legislation must acconnnodate itself to the neces- 
 sities, and often to the impulse, of the hour. It is 
 impossible here to travel steadily in ancient ways. The 
 legislator who stands still will not meet the require- 
 ments of our day. 
 
 Of such our friend was not one. With an intellect 
 broad and powerful in its grasp and enlarged l)y study 
 and retlection, limited by no narrow or sectional views, 
 just and liberal in spirit, looking upon his country as a 
 whole, and loving it in all its parts, nothing that could 
 aid in its development or advance its best interests 
 failed to receive his sympathy and support. And sel- 
 dom w\as his deliberate judgment at fault. To say that 
 he might not sometimes have erred would be to pro- 
 claim him more than human. To assert that he was 
 never wilfully wrong, or erred but where wise and 
 good men might well differ, is doing him no more than 
 justice. The crowning beauty of his public life, more 
 than all else, was that whatever he did, however he 
 might act, no spot w^as left upon the perfect enamel of 
 his character as a legislator. Malice could not stain its 
 whiteness. In all that he did there was that trans- 
 ])arent truthfulness which attracts and secures the con- 
 fidence of friends, and compels the respect, and even 
 admiration, of adversaries — enemies, he had none 
 
 A stranger, Mr. President, upon entering this cham- 
 
ber and casting bis eyes around upon tbc Senate, could 
 not but be struck with the im})osing presence of our 
 departed friend and associate, and attracted by the rare 
 union of mildness and dignity in his expressive features. 
 If he rose to speak, the commanding, yet pleasant, 
 tones of his voice, and the noble grace of his demeanor, 
 the elegance of his language, and his clear and t()rcilde 
 statement, would deepen the hrst lavoral)le impres-sion. 
 If called to the chair, as lie was more often than any 
 other, that seemed to l)e the place he was made to fill. 
 There was exhibited his remarkal)le love of order, his 
 impartiality, his sense of senatorial propriety, his entire 
 iitness to preside over and control the deliberations of 
 what should be a grave, decorous, and dignified body of 
 thoughtful men charged with great trusts, and alive to 
 their importance. Whatever was in the least degree 
 unbecoming was offensive to his feelings and his taste; 
 but however these might be offended, lie never for a 
 moment forgot what was due to the Senate and to him- 
 self, as its officer. Would that his precepts and his 
 example in these particulars may not be forgotten. 
 Often, sir, when we look upon the chair you occupy, 
 however ably and iaithfully it may be filled, must we 
 think of him whose admonitions we well remember, 
 and to wdiose unshaken firmness and unwearied patience 
 we were so often indebted for the preservation of that 
 respect which we owe to ourselves. 
 
 Averse to much speaking, Mr. Foot did not often 
 address the Senate, and never l)ut after careful thought; 
 
 4 F 
 
and yet he possessed every advantage for distinguished 
 snccess. His mental powers, as I have before remarked, 
 were carefidly trained and cultivated, his command of 
 language was excellent, his taste correct, his voice so- 
 norous, and his action at once arraccful and diijnified. 
 That with such advantages he should have taken so 
 small a share in debate, esi)ecially in later years, when 
 he had become familiar with })uljlic afliiirs, must seem 
 not a little singular to those not acquainted with his 
 habits of thought and his peculiar temperament. The 
 ex})lanation, however, is simple, and may be found in 
 his remarkable want of self-appreciation. Modest to a 
 fault, he never did anything like justice to his own 
 jiowers. To others, and especially to those ^\'ho pos- 
 sessed his confidence and atfection, he did more than 
 justice, being too ready always to receive and defer to 
 the opinions of others in no respect su})erior to himself 
 Thence it followed that he seldom addressed the Senate 
 u{)on subjects which occasioned general debate. Upon 
 those rare occasions when his voice was heard, the ques- 
 tions were such, for the most part, as in his opinion had 
 not received the attention their importance deserved. 
 We all know tin; res[)ect with which he was invariably 
 listened to, and the light shed by his intellect and iiis 
 inchistry u})on whatever subject he chose to touch. 
 
 His political friends are well aware how this want of 
 self-assertion in merely personal matters was e.\hil)ited 
 in all his relations to and intercourse with them. 
 Though long the ohlest member of the Senate in con- 
 
secutivc service, he invariably avoided conspicuous 
 place. While others might seek for and claim desirable 
 positions upon leading committees as due to their 
 States, if not to themselves, he was satisfied with any 
 that was assigned to him, however derogatory it might 
 seem to his age and standing, preferring and urging the 
 claims of others, and desiring only that all should be 
 satisfied. Often have I known him to insist that his 
 name should be struck from an important committee, 
 in order to replace it with the name of a friend or asso- 
 ciate to whom he thought the distinction would be 
 grateful. To him more than any other was assigned 
 the unenviable task of arranging these committees, not 
 only because all confided in his sense of justice, but 
 because of his disinterested magnanimity. I have often 
 thought that such generoi^s abnegation of self should 
 not have Ijeen permitted. I know that on several occa- 
 sions it \\'as peremptorily overruled. 
 
 That such a senator, so useful, so modest, so unas- 
 suming, so courteous, so kind, of a deportment so unex- 
 ceptionable, should have won the good-will of all his 
 associates and the love of many, and that his loss should 
 occasion universal sorrow, may well be supposed. 
 Those, however, who saw and marked the crowds as- 
 sendjled to witness the last sad ceremonies, and who 
 noted the many weeping eyes which looked ujion his 
 coffin, would naturally be led to consider that nothing 
 in the routine of his pul)lic career could account for a 
 grief so deep and so general. Men are not apt to be 
 
inoiiriied with tears for public services, or even on ac- 
 count of ])ul)lic or private virtue. Great intellectual 
 pre-eminence may excite admiration, but when the 
 light goes out its absence occasions; l)ut a weak and 
 transient emotion. Gifts and qualities like these "come 
 not near the heart." The secret of all that genuine and 
 unaffected sorrow for the friend we have lost lies in the 
 feeling of all who came within his sphere, that his was 
 a true and noble and loving nature: Impulsive and 
 ardent in temperament, he was kind, generous, and for- 
 giving. If injury excited liim to anger, it was a gen- 
 erous anger which could hardly outlive the occasion, and 
 perished of itself if let alone. Enthusiastic in his friend- 
 slii}), no labor was too severe, no sacrifice too great, f()r 
 those to whom he gave his affection. He was proud of 
 his country, of his State, of his friends. For himself 
 he was humble. Of an open hand, his charity was 
 instantaneous and unsuspecting. If 
 
 " lie prayetli bef^t who lovclh best 
 All tliiiigH, both great and small," 
 
 then was he a man of prayer. And if "the cluunber 
 where a good man meets his fide" is holy, then may we 
 rejoice who were permitted to feel the loveliness of his 
 dying hour. 
 
 Admirable senator ! patriotic citizen ! good and true 
 man I dear and cherished friend ! this scene of your 
 many labors will know you no more, l)ut long will your 
 memory dwell in these halls! This marble })ile, bear- 
 
iiiLT NIC iiiiprf'ss ot your wiilcliliil care, is one ol your 
 iiioiiiDiK'Dls. lis niassiv<' j)illars,\vill stand creel, giviu^r 
 tlieir lestimoiiy to our country's grandeur lowu, long 
 alter we and general ions yet to conic sliall have; passed 
 like shadows u])on the water; yet lie who, like yourself* 
 shall have ))(;rloniied his duly in life, and died with a 
 Christian's hope, will surviv(; when all lhes(,* columns 
 shall he lost 1o sight in the accumulated dust oiages. 
 
 Address of ^[li. Hiiow.x. of Missouri. 
 
 Mr. I^KKSIDEN'I' : When it was signified that a sulise- 
 quent day would he set ajtart fijr a])]»ropriate ommemo- 
 ration in honor ot" the latrdy deceased senator from 
 A Crinont, J had designed prej)aring some extended 
 trihute to attest my warm regard for liis virtues and 
 my great a])preciation of Iiis talents. An indisjiosition, 
 howev(;r, that has prostrated me almost to the present 
 moment, will jirevent my doing as I wtjuld have wished. 
 Still I am not willing to let this occasion pass without 
 any memorial word from my lips. 
 
 Long years ago, sir, I learncfl to admire the steadfast 
 devotion to {'vcc ];rinciples, amid the thick conflict of" 
 impending revolution, inanif'ested in the public lif"e of 
 Senator Yoot. ''J'here was a moral fijrce, an undemon- 
 strative heroism, in his. quiet methods of persistence, 
 impressive far beyond any pronounced mannerism. 
 
But it was only when I came to know him personally 
 in the relations ol" i»rivate intercourse that I realized 
 the ibrce and beauty of his full-orl^ed manhood. 
 
 The reciprocal action of thought and feeling so often 
 dissociated l)y the wear of political avocation was with 
 him a perfect accord. Among the first who extended 
 to me the hand of welcome upon my entrance into this 
 body, he emphasized that welcome by a cordial man- 
 ner, a refined courtesy, an unselfish guidance, and from 
 that hour until the hour of his departure I can truly 
 say that I relied upon his friendship with a confidence 
 as absolute as if it had been the growth of years. It 
 seemed as though the animation of his noble nature 
 shone out radiant from his person; that a countenance 
 in which was blended boldness and s.weetness gave true 
 index oi' the spirit within. And such as he seemed I 
 ever found him to be — a man free from guile, pure in 
 patriotism, clear of faith, upright, punctual, deliberate, 
 and wise with the wisdom that comes of observation, 
 which develops in action rather than argument, and 
 which is serene because it is ever charitable. 
 
 Of a large tyi)e of intellect, capable of most moving 
 speech, graceful beyond most in elocution, he was sel- 
 dom heard in the debates of this chamber, and yet it 
 will be said of him that lew, if any, better fulfilled the 
 proper duties of a senator, or did more thoroughly the 
 work assigned him, either by constituents or compeers. 
 Often chosen to preside here, eminently worthy of such 
 dignity, possessed with a voice rich in melody, quick of 
 
apprehension amid diverse questioning, rapid in judg- 
 ments, yet modest in affirmation, lie became at last the 
 oracle ot" the Senate, to wliom all referred in disputed 
 matters of parliamentar}' ruling. Observant, scrupu- 
 lously observant, of the forms and ceremonies that usage 
 has grown, like mosses, around the procedure of this 
 the most august deliberative body of the world, he was 
 yet even more deferential to duty than to form or cere- 
 mony. Indeed, I think if he had one dominant element 
 that ruled all else in his evenly 1)alanced mind, it was a 
 rigid, unswerving sense of duty that would sutler no 
 consideration to set aside its claim ; a sense of duty to 
 which, in the prime of a vigorous physical development, 
 he, by too assiduous devotion, sacrificed his life. 
 
 But wliy do I say sacriticed his life ? Has he not 
 gone rather to the eternal life beyond those "beautiful 
 gates" which shone upon his fading vision with un- 
 earthly splendor, into the everlasting tabernacles of 
 light and love, to dwell forever with his God ? Stand- 
 ing by the side of that dying statesman, witnessing 
 with what composure he consciously drew near his 
 dissolution ; hearing him i)ronounce the vanity and 
 emptiness of titled honors when present with death, and 
 yet kindle into exultation and triumph as he spoke of 
 his infinite hope in a redeemed resurrection ; hund)ly 
 partaking with him of that last sacrament that sealed 
 him to the church, and Indding him a farewell, full of 
 sympathy to me, full of joy to him, I cannot think we 
 have any right to mourn here to-day. 
 
Let us, tlit'ii, i\Ir. President, cherish the example of 
 tluit hfe which he led as worthy to be our guide in ])cr- 
 fbrming those high trusts committed to our charge, and 
 let lis deal with the memory of him who has passed 
 from our midst, not as a memory draped with the signs 
 of mourning, l)ut bright and l)eautiful and glorious, tit 
 to l)e crowned with music and with flowers, not with 
 elegiac responses. 
 
 Address of Mr. Sl'mnek, of Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. President: There is a truce in this chandjcr. 
 The antagonism of debate is hushed. The echoes of 
 conflict have died away. The white flag is flying. 
 From opposite camps we come together to bury the 
 dead. It is a senator that we bury, and not a soldier. 
 
 This is the second time during the present session 
 that we have l)een called to mourn a distinguished 
 senator from Vermont. It was much to bear such a 
 loss once. Its renewal now after so brief a peri(Kl is a 
 calamity without precedent in the history of the Senate. 
 No State before has ever lost tw^o senators so near 
 together. 
 
 Mr. Foot at his death was the oldest senator in con- 
 tinuous, service. lie entered the Senate in the same 
 Congress with the senator from Ohio (Mr. AVade) and 
 m^'self ; but he was sworn in at the called session in 
 
jMiircli, wliilc the two ollu^rs wen; not sworn in till IIk; 
 succ('C(llii<( DeccinlxT. J )urin>r tliis coiisidcinihlc s|i;ic(; 
 oftiiiK; I li;iv(^ hern llic coiislaiil witness lo his lili; ;in(l 
 ('onvcrsiilion. It is wiili !i scniinicnt of <i;r;i(i1 tuh; llial 
 I look l):H:k njK)!) onr rclalions, never IVoni llie. heirin- 
 nin^^ ini|)iiir(;(l or (lurktMied \>y any (liller(;n(:e. Vi)V one 
 hiiel" moment he seemed distiirlx'd l)y sonx^tliin^^ that 
 ji'll IVom ni(! in Ihe nnconseious intcnsily ol" my convie- 
 lions, l)nt it was l()r ;i hrief monn-nt oidy, ;ind he look 
 my lumd with a genial <i;rasj). I make haste; also to 
 declare! my sense of his personal purity and his ineor- 
 ruptibh; nalure. Sueh eh^ments of" (diaraeter, (!xliil)i1ed 
 and i)roved 1hron<;hoiit ii. loni;- service, render him an 
 exam|)le for all. II(; is gone, Init these; virtues "smell 
 sweet and blossom in the dust." 
 
 He was excellent in judgment. Jh; was excell<;)it 
 also in speed), so that whenever Ik; spoke; the; we)neler 
 was that he- whe) s|)e)ke' se) we'll sliotdd spe;;ds. se) rare-ly. 
 lie was lull, clear, dire'e-t, e;m])hatie', anel ne'V(;r was 
 diverted i"re)m the; thre'ael e)(" his argmne-nt. llael he 
 been move-d to mingle actively in elebate-, he- must luive; 
 exerted a cejmmanding inilue'iice e)ver e)j)inion in the; 
 Senate anel in the; country. IIe)W eiite-n we have; 
 watched him ti'anepiil in his se;at while e)tl)e'rs, without 
 his experience; e)r we-ight, e)ccupie;el atte;ntie)n. 'I'lie; 
 reticence which was a j)art e)f" his nature le)rme;el a ce)n- 
 trast to that prevailing e-li"usion v\ he-re- se)ine'time;s the; 
 facility e)i" sj)e'eedi is less re'miiikid)le; t haii the in;d)ilily 
 te) ke-ep sile-nt ; anel, iigain, it Ibrme'el a e;ont)"ast to that 
 
colli roversial spirit wliich too often, like an unwelcome 
 w iiid, pills out the lights, while it fhns a flame. And 
 }'et in his treatment of questions he was never incom- 
 plete or perfunctory. If he did not say, with the oratof 
 and parliamentarian of France, the famous founder of 
 the Doctrinaire school of poUtics, M. Royer Collard, 
 that he had too much respect for his audience ever to 
 ask attention to anything which he had not first 
 written, it was evident that he never spoke in the 
 Senate without careful preparation. You do not forget 
 his commemoration of his late colleague only a few 
 short weeks ago, when he deUvered a funeral oration 
 not unworthy of the French school from which this 
 form of eloquence is derived. Alas! as we listened to 
 that most elal)orafe eulogy, shaped by study and pene- 
 trat(.'d by feeling, how little did we think that it was so 
 soon to be echoed ])ack from his own tomb ! 
 
 It was not in our debates only that this self-abnega- 
 tion showed itself He quietly withdrew from places 
 of importance on committees to which he was entitled, 
 and which he would have filled with honor. More 
 than once I have known him to insist that another 
 should take the position assigned to himself He was 
 far from that nature which Lord Bacon exposes, in pun- 
 gent humor, when he speaks of "extreme self-lovers, 
 \\ ho would Inini u house in order to roast their eu^jjs." 
 And yet it must not be disguised that he was happy in 
 the office of senator. It was to him as much as his 
 "(hikedom' to I*rospero. He felt its honors and con- 
 
fessed its duties. But he was content. He desired 
 nothing more. Perhaps no person appreciated so 
 thoroughly what it was to l:)ear the commission of" a 
 State in this chaml)er. Surely no person appreciated 
 so thoroughly all the dignities which belong to the 
 Senate. Of its ceremonial he was the admitt(>d arbiter. 
 
 There was no jealousy, envy, or uncharitableness in 
 him. He enjoyed what others did, and praised gener- 
 ously. He knew that his own just position could not 
 be distur])ed by the success of another. Whatever 
 another may be, whether more or less, a man must 
 always l:)e himself. A true man is a positive, and not a 
 relative, cpiantity. Properly inspired, he will know 
 that in a just sense no])ody can stand in the way of 
 another. And here let me add that, in proportion as 
 this truth enters into practical life, we shall all Ijecome 
 associates and coadjutors rather than rivals. How plain 
 that, in the infinite diversity of character and tah^nt, 
 there is a place for every one. This world is wide 
 enough for all its inhabitants; this republic is grand 
 enough for all its people. Let every one serve in his 
 place according to the faculties that have been given to 
 him. 
 
 In the long warfare with slavery Mr. Foot was from 
 the beginning firmly and constantly on the side of free- 
 dom. He was against the deadly compromises of 1850. 
 He hnked his shield in the small, but solid, phalanx of 
 the Senate which oi)posed the Nebraska bill. He was 
 faithlul in the defence of Kansas, menaced by slavery. 
 
An(] when at last this l)ar1)an)iis rebel took up arms, he 
 accepted the issue, and did all that he could for his 
 coniitrv. But even the cause which for years he had 
 so nuK'h at heart did not lead him into debate, except 
 very rarely. His opinions appeared in votes rather 
 Ilia II in speeches. But his sympathies were easily 
 known. I do not forget that when I first came into 
 the tSenate, and was not yet personally familiar with 
 him, I was assured l)y Mr. Giddings, who knew him 
 w^ell, that he belonged to the small circle who would 
 stand l)y freedom, and the anti-slavery patriarch added 
 pleasantly that Mr. Foot, on his earliest visit to the 
 House of Representatives after he became senator, 
 drew attention ])y coming directly to his seat and sit- 
 ting by his side in friendly conversation. Mr. Foot 
 by the side of Joshua R. Giddings, in those days when 
 slavery still tyraimized, is a picture not to be forgotten. 
 li' our departed Iriend is not to be named among those 
 who have l)()rne the burden of this great controversy, 
 he must not l)e forgotten among those whose sym- 
 pathies with liberty never failed. Would that he had 
 done more. Let us be thankful that he did so much. 
 There is a part on the stage known as the "walking 
 gentleman," who has very little to say, but \\'ho always 
 appears well. Mr. Foot might seem, at times, to have 
 adopted this ])art, if we were not constantly reminded 
 of his watchfulness in everything concerning the course 
 of l»usiness, and the administration of parliamentary 
 law. Here he excelled and was the master of us all. 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. Gl 
 
 The division of labor, wliich is the lesson of })olitical 
 economy, is also the lesson of public lite. All cannot 
 do all things. Some do one thing; others do another 
 thing; each according to his gifts. This diversity pro- 
 duces harmony. 
 
 The office of President pro tempore among us grows 
 out of the anomalous relations of the Vice-President 
 to the Senate. There is no such officer in the other 
 house, nor was there in the House of Commons until 
 very recently, when we read of a "deputy speaker," 
 which is the term by which he is addressed when in 
 the chair. No ordinary talent can guide and control a 
 legislative assembly, especially if it be numerous, or if it 
 ]je excited by party dificrences. A good presiding 
 officer is like Alexander mounting Bucephalus. The 
 assembly knows its master "as a horse knows its rider." 
 This was pre-eminently the case of Mr. Foot, who was 
 often in the chair, and was for a considerable period 
 our President pro tempore. Here he showed a special 
 adaptation and power. He was in person "every inch" 
 a President; so also was he in every sound of the voice. 
 He carried into the chair the most marked individuality 
 that has been seen there during this generation. He 
 was unlike any other presiding officer. None but him- 
 self could be his parallel. His i)resence was felt in- 
 stantly. It filled this chamber from floor to gallery. 
 It attached itself to evervthing that was done. Vii^for 
 and despatch jirevailed. Questions were stated so as 
 to challenge attention. Impartial justice was manifest 
 
at once. Business in every form was handled with 
 equal case. Order was enforced with no timorous 
 authority. If disturbance came from the gallery, how 
 })romptly he launched his fulmination. If it came froui 
 Ihe tloor, you have seen him throw himself back, and 
 then, witii voice of lordshi]), as if all the Senate was 
 in Inm, insist that debate shonld be suspended until 
 order was restored. "The Senate must come to order," 
 he exclaimed, while, in unison with his powerful voice, 
 he beat w ith ivory hammer, like another god Thor, 
 until the reverberations rattled like thunder in the 
 mountains. 
 
 The Duke de Morny, who was the accomplished 
 president of the legislative assembly of France, in a 
 sitting shortly l)efore his death, after sounding his 
 crier's bell, which is the substitute for the hammer 
 among us, exclaimed from the chair, "I shall ])e obliged 
 to mention by name the members whom I find con- 
 versing. I declare to you that I shall do so, and I shall 
 have it put in the Moniteur. You are here to discuss 
 and to listen, not to converse. I promise you that I 
 will do what I say to the very first I catch talking." 
 Possibly our I^resident might have found occasion for a 
 similar speech, but liis energy in the enforcement of 
 order stopped short of this menace. Certainly he did 
 everything consistent with llie temper of the Senate, 
 anil he showed always what Sir William Scott, on one 
 occasion in the House of Commons, })laced among the 
 essential qualities of a speaker, when he said that "to 
 
DEATH OF HON. JSOLOMON FOOT. 
 
 63 
 
 a jealous affection for the privileges of tlie House 
 must be added an awful sense of its duties." 
 
 Accustomed as we have become to the rules which 
 govern legislative proceedings, we are hardly aware of 
 their importance in the development of liberal institu- 
 tions. They were unknown in antiquity, and they 
 were unknown also on the European continent until 
 latterly introduced from England, which was their 
 original home. They are among the precious contribu- 
 tions which England has made to modern civilization. 
 And yet they did not assume at once their present per- 
 fect t()rm. Mr. llallam tells us that even as late as 
 Queen Elizabeth members called confusedly tor the 
 business they wished brought tbrward. But now, at 
 last, these rules have become a beautiful machine by 
 which business is conducted, legislation is moulded, and 
 (lel)ate is secured in all possible freedom. Fnnn the 
 presentation of a petition or the introduction of a l)ill 
 all proceeds by fixed processes until, without disorder, 
 the final result is reached, and a new law takes its place 
 ill the statute-l)ook. Iloe's printing-press or Alden's 
 type-setter is not more perfect in its operations. But 
 the rules are more even than a beautiful machine; they 
 are the very temple of constitutional liljcrty. In this 
 temple our departed friend served to the end with 
 l)ious care. His associates, as th(y' recall his stately 
 form, silvered by time, but beaming with goodness, will 
 not cease to cherish the memory of this service. His 
 image will rise before them as the faithful presiding 
 
officer by whom the dignity of the Senate was main- 
 tained, its business was advanced, and parhamentary 
 law was upheld. 
 
 He had always looked with delight upon this Capi- 
 tol — one of the most remarkable edifices of the worlds- 
 beautiful in itself^ Init more beautiful still as the em- 
 blem of that national unity wliich he loved so well. 
 lie enjoyed its enlargement and improvement. He 
 watched with pride its marble columns as they moved 
 into place, and its dome as it ascended to the skies. 
 Even the trials of the war did not make him forget it. 
 His care secured those appropriations by which the 
 work was carried to its close, and the statue of Liberty 
 was installed on its suljlime pedestal. It was natural 
 that in his hist moments, as life was failing fast, he 
 should long to rest his eyes upon an object whic-h was 
 to him so dear. The early light of morninii: had come, 
 and he was lifted in his bed that he might once more 
 behold this Ca})itol with mortal sight; but there was 
 another ca[)itol which already began to fill his vision, 
 Ijiirer than your marble columns, subhmer than your 
 dome, where liberty without any statue is glorified in 
 that service which is perfect freedom. 
 
Address of Mi*. Pomeroy, of Kansas. 
 
 Mr. President: I l)rii]g to the offerings of this 
 occasion a grateful memory of the services rendered a 
 strugghng people in a distant Territory by the late 
 Senator Foot, of Vermont. Generous efibrts made at 
 a crisis in one's history can never be forgotten; and 
 when such oiferings are unsought and unrewarded 
 they deserve honorable mention. I remember to have 
 looked in upon the Senate of the United States when 
 the affairs of the Territory of which I was a resident 
 engaged the attention of Congress and the country. 
 The period to which I refer was the 9th day of August, 
 1856. A few only of the distinguished members of the 
 present session were then in this body. It was in the 
 old Senate chamber, and the leaders in the debate on 
 that day are now^ and have been for some years away 
 from us. On the day previous the present presiding 
 officer of this body had made for Kansas a most earnest, 
 faithful, and elocpient speech. And I shall never forget 
 the hour which the late senator from Vermont devoted 
 to pleading the cause of our struggling people. I am 
 sorry that speech has not been preserved. The Con- 
 gressional Globe of that date says : " The speech will 
 appear in the Appendix." I have searched the Appen- 
 dix in vain, and I think it is not there. The only 
 record of that memoral)le speech that I can find is 
 contained in the National Intelhgencer of the 11th of 
 August, 1856, as follows: 
 
 a F 
 
" Mr. Foot rose to address the Senate for the first time, wo be- 
 lieve, upon the Kansas troubles, which, sifted and discussed as that 
 subject has been for months — and exhausted, wore it possible — de- 
 rived fresh interest from the ability, elo(j[uence, and impressiveness 
 with which it was treated by the honorable senator from Vermont. 
 This luminous effort we hope to lay before our readers at an early 
 day." — Intelligencer, August 11, 1856. 
 
 This is most invaluable testimony, as it comes from a 
 source which did not then or now sympathize with the 
 cause which was so ably vindicated. I remember well 
 the eloquent and stirring appeal he made in our behalf. 
 He demanded for us the rights of freemen under the 
 Constitution — of free iiomesteads, free ballots, and a free 
 State. Noble words, and " fitly spoken." They made 
 an impression upon my own mind as indellible as the 
 teaching of my boyhood, and I shall forget them only 
 when I cease to remember any of the events of this 
 .life; and not to recognize services rendered at such a 
 crisis would be ingratitude which could not be par- 
 doned ; and far away beyond the valleys of the Missis- 
 si])[)i and the Missouri there are quiet cabin homes 
 where the name of Solomon Foot is a household word. 
 In the name of that people who cherish the memories 
 oi' their benefactors with undying gratitude, I bring to- 
 day this humble tribute of grateful acknowledgments. 
 While others lay costlier and more imposing offerings 
 upon his burial place, I will content myself by })lanting 
 but a single shrub. It shall be an evergreen, for it is 
 the uniiiding tribute of gratitude. " He opened his 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 67 
 
 mouth for tlie dumb," and did not shut his ear to th(,' 
 cry of the poor; "and the cause that he knew not he 
 searched out." Such efforts, no1)ly rendered, shall not 
 be forgotten, for the people whom he vindicated were 
 not liis people. They were separated from him by the 
 breadth of half the continent. But the cause which he 
 pleaded w\as the cause of freedom, the cause of his 
 countrymen — aye, the cause of mankind. For when one 
 member sulfers all suffer; when one is degraded all are 
 dishonored. 
 
 '' Whatever link you fftrike" 
 
 from the great chain which binds the human family to 
 each other and t(j God, 
 
 "Tenth or ten-thousandth, 
 You break the chain alike." 
 
 Mr. President, the departed senator is not dead. No 
 man who has nobly lived can ever wholly die. The 
 deeds of good men live forever! their memory is 
 undying; and their influence is reflected by those who 
 live after them ; and it lives on in endless circles, 
 widening and deepening forever and forever more. 
 Good men are reproduced in each generation, and their 
 lives are as immortal as truth, virtue, and God. Sir, 
 amidst the green hills and Ijiulding forests of the early 
 spring-time the senator slee])s, lieloved, honored, and 
 embalmed even in the affections of his devoted home 
 circle of friends. But, sir, far away, across the wide 
 continent there are those who will hold him in per- 
 
petiial and grateful remembrance; and year by year, 
 as tlie seasons come and go, will a generous peo- 
 ])le, with offerings of gratitude, consecrate their little 
 children by giving them at the altar of their baptism 
 llie honored name of the Senator who vindicated their 
 rights iuid secured them their lil)erties. But from this 
 burial scene we must tear ourselves away, for life has 
 its duties as well as death its lessons. We should not 
 yield to sorrow, for life, and death, even, have their 
 hopes. " For if a man die, he shall live again." 
 " When the heavens are no more he shall awake and 
 l)e raised out of his sleep." 
 
 " Life is struggle, combat, victory ; 
 Wherefore have we slumbered ou 
 AVith (Hir forces all unmarslialled, 
 With our weapons all undrawn ? 
 
 " Oh, what a glorious record 
 Had the angels of me kept, 
 If I'd done instead of doubted, 
 Had I warred instead of wept. 
 
 " Build thy great acts high and higher, 
 Build them on the conquered sod, 
 Where thy weakness first fell bleeding, 
 Where thy first prayer rose to God." 
 
Address of ]\Ir. Ckagin, oJ' New Hampshire. 
 
 Mr. PkksiDKNT: L()V(3 (or my iiiiiivc; Slate, syi))})aU)y 
 with her pcojjle iu their douhle alllietioii, and great 
 respect lor the cliaracter of lier departcMl senators, 
 proiiijil me to utter a lew words on this solemn oe(tasloii. 
 Few mend)ers of th<; S(M)ai(; have; known SoLOMON 
 Foot longer than I have. Running baek itito the years 
 ol" niy hoyhood is the memory of this able, j)ure, and 
 accomplished man. More than thirty years ago I 
 looked will) \)\\i\c. and admiration upon his noble and 
 maidy form, and eagerly listened to his (jlcxjuent words. 
 It was my rortun(; to have been born and reared within 
 thirty miles of wlujre both th(; late senators of Vermont 
 long H'sided, and I can truly say that my political faith 
 was in |)art derivcid from their teachings. .Judge Col- 
 lamer resided in my native county, and my lirst v(d(; 
 for member of Congress was given tor him. Only a 
 few weeks ago the (hnith of that gr(;at and good man 
 was llttingly annomiced in this chamber by his distin- 
 guished colleague, whose departure w(! now deplon-. 
 What we do lor th(3 dead must soon be <lone l(>r us. 
 In his concluding remarks on that occasion In; seems 
 to hav(! had a prcjsent iment that his own remaining days 
 upon i\\(t earth would be lew. lie said: 
 
 "Mr. Pnjsideiit, he wliose deatli w(! now lament i« gone, to l>e with 
 urt no more. Ilis work on earth in done; he strikes a golden harp 
 among the seraphim on high. His precepts and liis examph; are 
 left to us for our instruction and our profit. Happy, indeed, will it 
 
be if we shall so profit by tbem that we shall be ready, as he was 
 ready, for the final summons in that hour Avhich is coming to us all, 
 and to some of us not far oft", when this world and its worthlessness 
 shall fade from our sinking vision." 
 
 Thet;e solemn words may now be spoken of" him who 
 first uttered them, and again to us. Surely, this life is 
 short, very short. Man is here to-day, and gone to-mor- 
 row I He is^s the transient grass: "in the morning it 
 s})ringeth up and flourisheth; in the evening it is cut 
 down and withereth." The great highway of life is 
 thronged; some are constantly falling in the race, and 
 others are coming to take their places; and the world 
 moves on as before, passing, generation after generation, 
 into the awful shadow which no eye, except that of 
 faith, can i)enetrate. 
 
 It is not my purpose to speak of the public career of 
 our lamented friend, but simply to draw attention to 
 his general character, and the example of his life. His 
 social, moral, and mental quahfications were well 
 adapted tor use, and also for show. Of fine, command- 
 ing personal appearance, he always bore himself wilh 
 great urbanity and dignity of manner. He was one of 
 nature's noblemen. His features, his proportions, his 
 manners, his mind, all indicated a man. God set the 
 seal of greatness upon his brow, and i)lanted within 
 the elements of goodness and loving kindness. His 
 was a heart of honor, and a tongue of truth. He was 
 strong in his convictions, and l)()ld in their utterance. 
 He was a firm advocate for freedom and human rights. 
 
and a most devoted lover of the repnblie. He was one 
 of the most ])erfect models of integrity and propi-iety 
 Ihat T ever knew. Honor with him was a cardinal 
 virtue, and h(^ had a most })(;rfeet taste l()r forms and 
 ceremonies. He abhorred meanness, scorned duplicity, 
 and despised trickery. In his case there was no i)ov- 
 erty of soul. He always looked and acted the perfect 
 man. The mantle of truth, which is the garment of 
 Ijeauty and exalted manhood, he always w^(n-e. He was 
 a sound, practical, and learned man. Twenty-five years 
 ago he was a Ihient and captivating speaker; but even 
 then his candor, truthfulness, and facts were the great 
 elements which carried convictions. He was never, to 
 my knowledge, a great talker. He spoke only when 
 he had something to say, and he never failed to have 
 listeners. Like his colleague, Judge Collamer, he had 
 great contempt for wordy preteiKlers; and he did not 
 think it the highest attainment of a statesman or a 
 scholar to l^e able to marshal words into high-sounding 
 sentences, with the superlatives in front. His example 
 to the aspiring young men of his State and country 
 was of inestimable value. He taught them lessons of 
 temperance, truthfulness, honor, and all the social and 
 moral virtues of noble manhood. He carried his 
 morality and honor into politics, and by his teachings 
 and example convinced the young men that honesty 
 and straightforward manliness is the best policy in every 
 relation in life. He did not believe in that miserable 
 heresy, that everything is fair in politics, and that the 
 
scramble for office is a game tliat justifies untiiir means 
 and falsehood. In this he and Judge Collamer were 
 much alike. The result of such examples and such 
 teachings is that Vermont has the purest political 
 atmosphere of any State in the Union. I consider this 
 no small compliment to my native State, and I claim it 
 as a great honor to her pulilic men. Men in i)ublic 
 life are greatly responsible for the morals of the people. 
 Men in high positions exert a vast influence upon am- 
 bitious young men, and their examples are powerful for 
 good or evil If they would all sternly and religiously 
 imitate the example of the two lamented senators of 
 Vermont, bribery, corruption, and political trickery and 
 ])aseness would be unknown, and we might all have 
 greater hopes of the republic. Two more pure, just, 
 and upright statesmen never graced and dignified the 
 Senate chamber. Both, in an eminent degree, com- 
 bined the qualities that make the perfect man and 
 Christian statesman. The lives of both of them have 
 illustrated what we should all regard — that character 
 is the one thing valuable; that reputation, which is the 
 mere shadow of a man, is, in the long run, of infinitely 
 less importance. 
 
 Vermont has great cause for mourning. Twice has 
 she l)een stricken within a few months, and her two 
 most eminent and respected citizens have been taken 
 away, and are now buried in the shadow of her green 
 mountains. High position could not shield them, great 
 ability and moral worth could not save them, from the 
 
arrows of death. They have gone the way of all the 
 earth, but they have left l)right and honoraI)le records 
 as a legacy for their own State and as examples lor 
 those who may occupy like positions. These noble 
 men have conferred great honor upon their State, and 
 the people thereof will long hold them in proud and 
 grateful remembrance. The loss of Vermont is the 
 nation's loss, and we do well to express a nation's sor- 
 row. By this sad event, we who occupy these seats 
 are called to contemplate the summons which will soon 
 come to each one of us. Senators, behold the point 
 towards which all human things converge — the grave. 
 It is appointed unto all men once to die. A few brief 
 years will bring each one of us to the end of life's 
 journey and finish our earthly record. When we shall 
 have arrived at the last moment of our existence here 
 below, and the sight of the natural eye becomes dim, 
 God grant that, looking heavenward, we may he al)le to 
 exclaim, with our departed friend, "I see it! I see it! 
 The gates are wide open! Beautiful! Beautifid!" 
 
Address of ^Ir. Edmunds, of Vermont. 
 
 Mr. President: Were the aphorism of the great 
 
 (h-amaiist true, that — 
 
 " Tlie evil that men do lives after them ; 
 The good is oft interred with their bones," 
 
 there would be little, indeed, left to remind us of -him 
 who has now so lately vanished from the council cham- 
 ber of the nation and from this vast and majestic edifice 
 which has grown into stature and beauty under the 
 enchantment of his labors; he would stand with those 
 described in the sad but beautiful passage in the Divine 
 Comedy: 
 
 "On earth they left no record in their day; 
 Mercy and justice hold them in disdain; 
 Speak not of them, but look and pass away," 
 
 and his memory would pass with his mortal body 
 from the knowledge of men. But a higher philosophy 
 and a better religion teach us that, however it be with 
 evil, the good that men do is not buried with their 
 bones, ]>ut lives after them, ever growing, widening, 
 elevating, never lost, and casting its beneficent fruits 
 even into th(3 lap of the remotest future. Whatever, 
 then, may be the sphere of usefulness and good to which 
 a man is called, or in which he moves, whether it be in 
 the loftiest regions of politics or ethics, or in the cold 
 and serene solitudes of abstract science, or in the prac- 
 tical administration of affairs, or in the Innnblest call- 
 
 L 
 
ings of humble life, be his work well and faithfully 
 done, be his mission filled to completion, he has earned 
 an equal recompense, and has equally won the victor's 
 crown. 
 
 Thus, it has seemed to me that, on this sad and sor- 
 rowful occasion I may leave to other and more tlimiliar 
 tongues the })raise of Mr. Foot in his character of sen- 
 ator and legislator, and may fitly be excused from any 
 philosophical analysis, or estimate, or panegyric, of him 
 as compared with other eminent men; and leave to the 
 future the task of fixing, with impartial exactness, his 
 place in the high temple of fame, among the heroes and 
 worthies who have gone before him to their rest; and 
 the rather, as my heart prompts me, and as the wishes 
 of the people whom he has so long and so worthily 
 represented would, I am sure, direct, as his home friend 
 and fellow-citizen, dwell for a little space, as we mourn 
 at his departure, upon his personal relations to his peo- 
 ple, aiul upon his long life of un])lemished i)urity, and ■ 
 of cordial and earnest love for, and pride in, his native 
 State, and upon his constant, and untiring, and success- 
 ful efforts to })romote their welfare and to realize their 
 wishes: upon his love of his country and of man. 
 Born to no ancestral honors, and reaching forward to 
 usefulness and influence only by the merit of his own 
 vigorous but unaided endeavor, he entered upon lite 
 in perfect sympathy with the universal aspirations of 
 the people, and so, as step by step he advanced from 
 pupil to teacher, from teacher to leader, and from leader 
 
76 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 to ruler, lie was to them the type and example of re- 
 publican social i)rogress — the rei)resentative man — and 
 all the people looked upon his successes as their own, 
 and felt in his advancement a triumph personal to 
 themselves. This affectionate sympathy of sentiment 
 was fully reciprocated l)y Mr. Foot. He took up, as if 
 by instinct, the feelings of the people, and never failed 
 to assert them against all antagonism. And these qual- 
 ities of his mind and heart were not limited to geo- 
 graphical boundaries. He believed in the exhortation: 
 
 " Love thy country and every other, 
 And wherever man dwells find a brother 
 Whom God hath related to thee." 
 
 So he was admired, and followed, and trusted by the 
 masses of the people. Whenever he was called upon 
 for assistance he individualized the case of each ap[)li- 
 cant and made it his own ; his heart warmed and his 
 face lighted up with joy at the opportunity of assisting 
 any, however humble, of his fellow-citizens; and hun- 
 dreds and thousands will carry through their lives the 
 pleasant remembrance of his grasp and smile as he 
 would dismiss them with encouragement and counsel. 
 Thus he endeared j.imself to men individually. His 
 sense of truth and justice vv'as quick and vivid, although 
 his resjiect for sincere opposition was jierfect, and so 
 he was not easily misled; thus he obtained th(3 con- 
 fidence and respect of those who could not gain his aid, 
 as well as of those who were the recipients of his favor. 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 77 
 
 His life was pure, generous, and blameless ; free from 
 all shadow of suspicion or rej)roacli, and all who knew 
 him had faith in his fidelity to his principles and to his 
 State against all pressure and temptation. 
 
 And therefore on all sides there gathered around this 
 earnest, fervent, hearty, patriotic man, the pride, the 
 confidence, and the affections of his whole people, who 
 now mourn his loss as an individual bereavement, as 
 does he who ncnv addresses you, whose relations with 
 that noble man were of such affectionate intimacy and 
 good-will as would make him fitly turn away and weep, 
 rather than speak the language of deserved eulogy. In 
 a busy, useful life he has filled his allotted sphere, and 
 discharged his trust. " With enmity toward none, with 
 charity toward all," he has lived and died. Mr. Presi- 
 dent, as we gather hope and wisdom even out of these 
 sorrowful duties, let us remember that it is good deeds, 
 and not the lingering years, that make up the full, true 
 life of man, and that crown him with his best rewards. 
 
 Address of Mr. McDougall, of CaUfornia. 
 
 Mr. President: I feel that I should not slumber 
 well to-night without the utterance of one word to dig- 
 nify the late senator from Vermont. Myrrh and frank- 
 incense were the symbols of praise in the old Hebraic, 
 and that praise, it was supposed, went up above. There 
 is another lesson in another school, perhaps as ancient 
 
78 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 but not as anciently recorded, that the dead rested in 
 their caves until their praises were hymned by the 
 songs of" bards, and then they were freed IVoni their 
 caves and went to the heavens. It is my impression 
 that th(! late senator from Vermont was one of the 
 nol)le men who adorned this Senate, adorned our gov- 
 ernment, and distinguished his State as Vermont has 
 1)een (Ustinguished. There is something in, her pine- 
 clad hills and tall mountains that makes great men. I 
 do not know the man with whom I have met in the 
 tide of my own times who was better fitted for public 
 service than the late senator from Vermont. Every 
 one in the Senate chamber felt, when he came here to 
 present himself, whether in the President's chair or in 
 his own seat on the other side of the chamber, that he 
 was an ornament to the Senate, both intellectually and 
 morally. It would be dithcult to convey in formal 
 words the due compliment that all of us owe him, to 
 give him the tidiness of his merit. I feel it due to 
 myself, out of respect for him, liis high office, and the 
 manner in which he conducted himself in his high 
 olKcc, to say this much in his praise; and if I had a 
 har[) like David I would sing to him as David sang to 
 Saul. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Senate ad- 
 journed. 
 
DKATII OF HON. SOLOMON TOOT. 70 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 THURSDAY, MARCH 2<J, imi 
 
 A mt'ssage from tbc Senate, by ]\Ir. F(jI{Nky, its Sccrctaiy, com- 
 municated the following extract from it.s journal; which waa read: 
 
 " L\ Si;.\ATE OF TflK UiMTKO 8'IATKS, 
 
 "Marc/t 29, 1S66. 
 
 " Resolved, (unanimously,) That the member.s of the Senate, from 
 a (sincere d(;sire of showing every mark of respect to the incimory of 
 Hon. Solomon Foot, deceased, late a senator from the State of 
 Vermont, will go into mourning for the residue of the present session, 
 by the usual mode of wearing crape on the lei't arm. 
 
 " Resolved, (unanimously,) That the Senate; will att(;nd the fune- 
 ral of the deceased from the Senate chamber at one o'clock to-day, 
 and that the committee of arrangements, consisting of Messrs. Doo- 
 
 LITTI.K, A.\THO\Y, lIoWAIUi, IIjiNDRICKS, SllKRMAN, and litCKA- 
 
 LEW superintend the same. 
 
 '^Ordered, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings io 
 the Hou8(; of Representatives." 
 
 • 
 
 Mr. MoiauLL. Mr. Speaker, 1 learn that senators who desire to 
 submit remarks in relation to the life and character of the eminent 
 senator from Vermont, whose decease has just been communicated 
 to this House, arc not ready to do so to-day. '^i'he family of the 
 deceased were desirous to reach home this week, and therefore the 
 funeral ceremonies could not b(! deferred. I may also state that 
 some of my colleagues are at the present moment absent ; and I 
 trust that at some early day the usual opportunity will be afforded 
 for submitting such eulogies upon the character and public services 
 of the deceased as members may desire to off'er. 
 
 I ])resent the following resolutions: 
 
80 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 " Resolved, That this house has heard with dt-ep sensibility ^he 
 amiouucement of the death of Hon. Solomon Foot, a senator in 
 Congress from tlie State of Vermont. 
 
 " Resolved, That, as a testimonial of respect for the memory of 
 the deceased, the members and olHcera of this Jioiise will wear the 
 usual badge of mourning for thirty days, 
 
 " Resolved, That the proceedings of this house in relation to the 
 death of Hon. Solomon Foot be communicated to the family of the 
 deceased by the Clerk. 
 
 " Resolved, That this house will as a body repair to the Senate 
 chamber to attend the funeral of the deceased, at the hour of one 
 o'clock p. m. this day, and upon its return to the hall that the Speaker 
 declare the House adjourned." 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the House took 
 a recess until one o'clock, when it reassembled, and the members, 
 headed by the Sjx'aker, the Clerk, and the Sergeant-at-arms, pro- 
 ceeded to the Senate chamber to attend the funeral scu-vices of 
 Senator Foot, after which they returned to the Hall and adjourned. 
 
 THURSDAY, APRIL VZ, 1866. 
 
 A mes«age was received from the Senate, by Mr. Forney, its 
 Secretary, notifying the House that it had adopted the following 
 resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to infonn 
 the House of Representatives that the Senate, having listened to 
 eulogies on the character and public services of Hon. Solomon 
 Foot, a senator from the State of Vermont, lately deceased, out of 
 respect to his memory, have voted to adjourn." 
 
Address of Mr. Woodbridge, of Vermont. 
 
 Mr. Speaker : But a low weeks ago the distinguished 
 senator whom w(5 now mourn arose from his seat in the 
 Senate and [)ronounced a most eloquent and impressive 
 eulogy upon his colleague, who had been gathered to 
 his lathers in the fullness of his years, crowned with 
 private worth and public honor. And now bef"ore the 
 cypress leaf is wilted, or the first gushing tear is dried, 
 we are called, in the providence of God, to a fresher 
 grief for him who so freely mingled his tears with ours 
 at the death of Judge Collamer, whom none knew but 
 to honor and love. At that time Mr. Foot was appa- 
 rently in perfect health. His constitution w^as unim- 
 l)aired by any exposure or excess, and his splendid and 
 almost unrivalled physical development gave promise of 
 many years of vigorous and active life, for he possessed 
 
 "A combination and a form, indeed, 
 Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
 To give the world assurance of a man." 
 
 In speaking of the life and character of Mr. Foot, I 
 shall simply attempt to do justice. Unqualified praise 
 of the dead is never either in good taste or truthful. 
 Human character is never perfect; at best it is only 
 good in parts. Mr. Foot was born in Cornwall, in the 
 State of Vermont, in 1802. He graduated at Middle- 
 Iniry College with distinguished honor in 182G, and the 
 same year became principal of the seminary at Castle- 
 
 6 F 
 
ton. lie was tutor in ilio University of Vernioiil in 
 1827, and again, from 1828 to 1831, principal of Cas- 
 tleton Seminary, and by his earnest efforts and marked 
 executive ability gave such an impulse and character 
 to the institution that it ranked lor many years among 
 the first of the classical schools in Vermont. In the 
 midst of his faithful and arduous labors as a teacher he 
 devoted the time usually given to recreation and the 
 refined pleasures of social lil'e to the study of the law^ 
 and in 1831 was admitted to the bar in Rutland, and 
 immediately commenced the practice of his profession. 
 For five years he was a member of the legislature of 
 Vermont, and for three years speaker of the house of 
 representatives. From 1836 to 1842 he was prose- 
 cuting attorney for the county of Rutland. lie was a 
 member of the constitutional convention which estab- 
 lished the senate as a co-ordinate branch of the legis- 
 lature of Vermont, in which body he actively co-ope- 
 rated with his late colleague, Judge Collamer. From 
 1843 to 1847 he was a member of this l)ody, and <h'- 
 clined a third election. In 1850 he was elected senator 
 of the United States, and occupied the position until 
 the day of his death. 
 
 Such is a brief recital of the i)ublic and official posi- 
 tions occupied by Senator Foot, embracing a period of 
 nearly a third of a century. Born of highly respect- 
 able but comparatively poor parents, he was by force 
 of circumstances thrown upon his own resources, and 
 early in life acquired independent habits of thought 
 
atid aclioii. AVilhoiil any of llin adventitious siirroiiiid- 
 iiiirs of" wealth, of station or ])atronage, without any of 
 that extreme brilliancy of" genius vvhicli now and then 
 startles and dazzles the world, he looked uj)on life as a. 
 great reality, and upon siicecss as the reward of hahor. 
 He was rather solid than showy. He lacked genius, 
 l)ut ])oss(;ssed talent and judgment. His fjualities did 
 not shine f"orth like the greater lights in Ihe heavens, 
 l>ut there was in llicm a proportion and harmony which 
 irave a moral irrandcur 1o the man. 
 
 Senator Voor was what we call a self-made maii. \ 
 do not at1rll>u1(; 1o him any ])articular credit for thai. 
 'I'he term "self-made nian" is a mueh-ahused one. 
 There is no royal road to grr^atness. Every man who 
 comes to he a [)ower reaches it through ])ersonal efl'orl. 
 The scholar is scdf-made, and becomes a scholar tlirough 
 patient and exhausting labor and reflection. The j)ro- 
 fessional man is self-made, and so is the merchant and 
 the artisan. That Senator Foot succeeded where a 
 weak will would have f"ailed is doublless Irue, and 
 hence the greater honor to Ihe man. As a lawyer Mr. 
 Foot was not learned. As a stat(.'sman he never seized 
 uj)on new thef)ries or ventured upon untried paths. As 
 a ijolitical economist he never originated new ideas or 
 dev(;]oped old ones with extraordinary power, and yet, 
 without (piestion, Ik; was one of the safest statesmen 
 and most judicious legislators of the age. He did not 
 resendjle the mountain, towering to the skies, barren 
 and useless from its hci^rht, but rather the lesser enji- 
 
84 ADDRESSES OX THE 
 
 iience, whose suniinit is covered willi the forest, and 
 whose slopes wave with the yellow grain. He did not 
 resemble the terrific shower, which destroys Ijy its 
 vi(dence, so much as the gentle rain, which the earth 
 drinks, and then dresses herself in new life and beauty. 
 God granted Mr. Foot one of the greatest of 
 earthly blessings, a loving, })raying, pious mother, who 
 early instilled into his mind principles of reverence 
 toward God, obedience to authority, and love of truth ; 
 and throngli a long public life the great leading char- 
 acteristic of his mind, and perhaps the highest power 
 of his character, was his (hnoiion to truth — that high 
 ethical truth which is grounded in the moral being and 
 the titness of things, lying back of and deeper than 
 refinements or popularities, n^aching down to the inner 
 nature and elevating the moral forces. " His word was 
 as good as his l)ond." No social or political combina- 
 tion or inlluence; no sycophantic llatterer; no dastardly 
 and cunning insinuator; no ex[)ectation of reward, ov 
 place or power, ever shook the truthfulness of Solomon. 
 
 1\)0T. 
 
 Senator Foot was a patriotic man 
 
 " He loved his laud because it was liis own, 
 And sconied to give nuglit other reason why." 
 
 He cherished the principles of the Declaration of 
 Independence. He believcul that all num were creates 1 
 free and erpud, and yet subordinated his acts and theo- 
 ries to the Constitution of the land Constitutional 
 
liberty was his watchword ; and when by (brcc ol" law 
 all men became al)solutely free, he was the earnest and 
 fearless advocate of those measures designed to [)rotect 
 Hie freedman in all his civil rights. But, sir, when the 
 first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, and the cry "To 
 arms!'' echoed from peak to peak of the mountains of 
 his native State, then the nobleness, the ])atriotism, the 
 generosity of Solomon Foot slione forth like a star. 
 Calmly and serenely he met the issue, and everywhere 
 infused into the people his own heroic and enthusiastic 
 nature. And when at times during the progress of the 
 rebellion the clouds seemed to lower about us, his faith 
 in God and liberjy never taltered. lie trusted in the 
 right. lie met and performed every obligation of duty 
 without fear and without reproach. The highest and 
 proudest encomium which a public man can ever re- 
 ceive is justly his. Popular at home beyond descrip- 
 tion ; elevated by the people to almost every office 
 within their gilt; beloved, honored, and trusted, he 
 always and everywhere proved himself an h(jnest man, 
 the noblest work of God. 
 
 He loved his native State. To him there was no air 
 so pure as that which swe])t about her mountains; no 
 water so sweet as that which bubbled from her crystal 
 springs ; no grass so green as that which clothed her 
 valleys ; and he now lies beneath the shadow of her 
 hills, where the wind sings his recjuiem, and the solemn 
 old })ines stand as sentinels over his dust. During the 
 long and Ijloody rebellion, when suffering and death 
 
entered almost every liousehold, no wounded soldier, 
 no \ve('])ing sister, no heart-l»roken wile or mother, ever 
 called upon Senator Foot in vain. Their wants were 
 his wants. Their .suiferiiig was his sullering. In sun- 
 shine and in rain, in sickness and in lieallh, by tender 
 and sy inpathi/ini,^ counsel, and hy active and elKcient 
 ell'orl, he labored for their relief; and we may truthfully 
 say for him, "When the eye saw nie then it blessed 
 me. AVhen the ear heard nui it <rav(; witness to me, 
 for I delivered the poor Ihat cried, Uk^ lalherh^ss, and 
 him that had none to help him. 'j'he blessing of him 
 Ihat was ready to perish eanu; upon nu', and 1 caused 
 the widow's heart to sing with joy." 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, it is a glorious thing lo live in this 
 world. AVhen its Cr(^alor launched it forth in the pcv- 
 fection of its beauty, the morning stars sang together 
 tor joy. It was made for man, the last (>xercise of ere- 
 alive power — for man made in the imager of God, into 
 whose nostrils He breathed the breath of life. It is 
 noble to live f()r the development of the soul. It is 
 beautiful to ai)i)reciate and enjoy all the works of God, 
 and all the endearing relations with which we are sur- 
 rounded. It is glorious 
 
 " To have 
 Attentive luul believing faculties; 
 'Vo go abroad rejoicing in tbe joy 
 01' beautiful and well-created tilings ; 
 'i'o love I be voice of waters and tbe .'^lieeu 
 Of t?il\er fountains leaping to the sea; 
 
I)I:ATII Ol' IIO\. SOLOMON I'OOT. 
 
 S7 
 
 To llirill witli flio rich melody of ])irflrt 
 
 Liviii}^ llicir lile ol' inunie ; lo he ^\iu\ 
 
 III IIk; ;^;iy HiiiiHliiiic, icvirciil, in iIm^ hIoiiii ; 
 
 To H('e a Itcuiily in I lie Htiniiip; U-iii'; 
 
 To find culm Uioii^IiIh Itciicilli IIk; wliit^|M'iin{^' tree; 
 
 To H('(' and licnr and Ihc'iIIic IIh; evidence, 
 
 or CJod'.'^ dee|) wi.-^dom in flie n;ilinal woild." 
 
 I)iit nutvc: Ix'.-iiililiil 1li;iii lilr is 1li(^ (l(';iili of llic 
 (yliiisliaii. Mr. I^'oo'i", IVoiii I lie (•()iiiiii('nc(un(3iii ol" his 
 sickness, seemed to Irel lli;ii lie would die, and when iln; 
 iinid summons came he was ready. liis last Uioiierhi 
 was for his eonnt ry, and his lasl, desire to look oul upon 
 tiie heaidifiil sunli^dil, and this nohh; (uliliee, vvliert; he 
 had laboi'ed so lono, und vvher(! he l)eli(;v(;d the ruiiire 
 salely ofthe rej)ul)lie rested; and iJu-n, as illully salis- 
 lied, will) cyo!: lull ol ccdesiial ra(lianc(;, he (^KcJaimed, 
 " I se(! it! 1 se(! it! 'j'he <j^ates an; wid*; o|)(ai ! I>eau- 
 lil'id ! iieaulilid !" and 1 he plaslie form was stilhid ; Ihe 
 casket was hfoken, and Solomon 1*'oot cntc^red upon 
 eternal rest. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I Ik; lile of a <(ood man lik(; that ol" him 
 we mourn is not conliind to its immediate and most 
 a|»[)areid. n;sulis. lis inlliu'nce liv(;s on, inspiiiner other 
 m(;n to liv(;s ol" nol)l(;ness and duty. It is the pillar ol 
 tire hy night and cloud by day, that salidy eruides us in 
 our W(iary wandcsriners. Let us mark it well, so that 
 when lo us tin; last dr<;ad sunnnons comes we eaeh 
 may. 
 
" Go, not like the quarry slave at night, 
 Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach our graves 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
 I sLibniit tlie following resolution : 
 
 Rt'suli-cd, That, as a further mark of respect for the deceased, 
 the House do now adjourn. 
 
 Add/ess of Mr. Banks, of Massachusetts. 
 
 j\Ir. Speaker: The high respect entertained by tlie 
 people of Massachusetts for the honored senator whose 
 death has been announced by the Senate renders it 
 proper that in tliis house, as in that of which he was 
 a mend)cr, some tribute should be [)aid to his memory. 
 It devolves upon me, in behalf of my colleagues and 
 the people we in part represent, to discharge this duty. 
 The State of Vermont acquired its territory from New 
 York; but its early population was chieily I'rom New 
 England. There has ever been between them and the 
 people of Massachusetts an attachment that is due to 
 common interests and origin. The anniversaries she 
 cherishes are celebrated by us, in connexion with her 
 sons, with the same spirit we give to those of the 
 Pilgrim Fathers. In common with other States of the 
 Union, we mourn this inscrutable dispensation of Provi- 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 89 
 
 dence that lias deprived a jiatriot sister State of two 
 sons so distinguished, so honored, so trusted, and so 
 worthy, whose death she has been called to mourn. 
 There is but one feeling, one manifestation: it is that 
 o(" deepest public sorrow. Families suffer for the affec- 
 tion of mourning families, citizens the loss of statesmen 
 and counsellors in whose experience and patriotism 
 they were accustomed to confide, and the State sym- 
 pathizes with her sister State, bereft thus suddenly of 
 her most trusted servants and brightest ornaments. 
 
 It is but a short time since we were summoned to 
 pay the last solenni honors to the memory of the sena- 
 tor of Vermont, senior by years, if not in service. We 
 are now called upon to render a fraternal and public 
 acknowledgment of the high honors due to the memory 
 of the then remaining senator. There are few charac- 
 ters in American history more complete and perfect 
 than that of Senator Foot, or whose service has been 
 more varied, satisfactor3^ or important. The })uljlic 
 life of the late senator, it is true, was identified with 
 the Senate of the United States, yet he had faithfully 
 discharged the minor, but not less important, duties of 
 local and neighborhood government wdiicli are so 
 essential ,to.the maintenance of our instituti(ms and 
 so closely identified with the destinies of the nation. 
 He had been student, teacher, professor, town officer, 
 representative, speaker, attorney of the people, consti- 
 tutional legislator, and for a brief period, limited l)y 
 his own choice, a member of this body. He had 
 
90 ADDRESSES OX THE 
 
 studied the science of medicine and of law, the logic 
 and passion of popular assemblies, and, in the course of 
 his long and useful career, served his native State in 
 every public capacity, cxce[)t that of executive or 
 judicial administrator of law. He had given much 
 lime to pid»Hc s(M'vice in those public assemblies and 
 associations of the people which are unrecognized by 
 statute law, but which are of such paramount im])ort- 
 ance to good government. Knowing liini as we do, we 
 can well appreciate how much he (contributed, by his 
 benign iniluence, in these unostentatious labors, to the 
 j)r()si)erity and stability of the State he loved so well. 
 Such services are the foundations of the State. They 
 make Ibrms of government practicable here which are 
 impossible elsewhere. They are the basis of American 
 liberty. It is in such duties that the people learn to 
 support, and legislators to direct, public administration. 
 We cannot overestimate their importance when per- 
 formed by men of eminent capacity or station, and we 
 ought not to withhold irom public servants the honor 
 due to those who faithfully discharge them. 
 
 It was not until Senator Foot appeared in the Senate 
 that his reputation became national and his character 
 fitly appreciated by the millions that now mourn his 
 death. It is not distinction that they lament; it is the 
 loss of valued service. The reputation still exists; 
 with the Inpse of years it briglitens; but the capacity 
 for public service, now, alas! more than ever needed, 
 is gone forever. He entered the Senate in 1851. 
 
 m^UOHUBH 
 
Tlial inemoral)l(; year ushered in tlie most evciutful 
 |)(ii()(l ef" our iiiilioiial career. Con<^ressional history 
 divides ilsell" into three ])eriods. 'I'he first is thiit ol 
 the; iiiJiiiortal Washin^H.oii. Il elosed with tljf; afhninit^- 
 tratioi) (;(■ the sfieoiid Adams. Every President, with 
 this exception, and n(;arly every j)iil>lie man, liad l>(;en 
 niimljered with tlie founders of Slates, the lutvinis ol 
 th(; war, or the fatliers oi" the Constitution. It was the 
 n.'vohitionary (ira. 
 
 The eh;ction ol' General Jackson Ijrought into ojK;ra- 
 tion j)ew |)rinei|)les of action and new elements of 
 puvvcr. 'I'Ik; West, then limited, with the exception of 
 J.onisiana and Missouri, to the States east of the Mis- 
 sissi]>j)i, first asserted its jxjwcr, arid assumed 1o shape 
 the j)oli(y of the coiujtry in C(jntradistinction to that fjf 
 1li<; Atlantic States, north and south. Its mission was 
 the development of the continent and the maintenance 
 and perpetuity of tlie union of" States. Secession and 
 jiuUilication were the enemies it first encountered. 
 The intellect of Webster dissipated the meta])hysical 
 soj)histries of secession, and the mailed arm of Jackson 
 struck down at one terribhi blow the hydra, millifica- 
 tion. Althouj^h presented under ordinary fJjrms of 
 legislation, it is now too aj)parent that the leading object 
 of ;i portion of the j)eople during the latter part of this 
 jjcriod was the extension and ])er])etuation of slavery, 
 or, liiiling in that, the destruction of the govermnent. 
 This struggle culminated in the measures of settlement 
 iij 1850. 
 
It was ill tho succeeding year, at the veiy opening of 
 the new age, that the senator we honor entered the 
 Senate. The old parliamentary leaders were passing 
 away. A few of the veterans still battled for a year 
 or two, and then all were gone. New men had risen; 
 old principles were to be affirmed with new zeal. The 
 great States of New York and Ohio had broken the 
 lines of ancient parties by unexpected and thorough 
 revolutions in public sentiment, and sent to the Senate 
 the present Secretary of State and the Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court. Massachusetts suffered a still 
 more surprising revolution of political sentiment, and 
 was represented in the Senate by the senior member of 
 her present delegation. Other States exhibited equally 
 radical changes. 
 
 The South, though suffering no revolution in opinion, 
 had gained in unity of purpose and intensity of spirit 
 what it had lost in authority and talent by the change 
 of leaders. It was too soon apparent that the bleeding 
 wounds of the country, though assuaged, w^re not 
 healed. Power had not won the prize for which it 
 struggled, and concession had not secured the peace it 
 coveted. Contests occurred in different parts of the 
 country upon the execution of the measures of settle- 
 ment. The compromise of 1820 was abrogated. Lurid 
 flauKis of domestic violence and civil vt^ar appeared in 
 the distant Territory of Kansas. The presidential con- 
 test of 185G first disclosed the organization of sectional 
 parties. States threatened secession. The Hag of the 
 
country was fired ii])oii by domestic enemies. Open 
 rebellion ensued, and the most desolating and terrible 
 war of all history was followed by the surrender ot" the 
 enemy, the cessation of hostilities, the dissolution of 
 armies, and apparent peace. Neither the place nor 
 occasion offers fitting opportunity for the discussion of 
 these great events. 
 
 The new senator from Vermont was called upon to 
 grapple with the first and each rapidly-succeeding fact 
 in the history of the unparalleled treason. Resistance 
 to the purpose of the enemy, and the organization of 
 measures and forces for the preservation of the country, 
 opened to him a theatre that might have satisfied the 
 highest ambition and the noblest patriotism. Never 
 greater constancy, never higher wisdom, was demanded 
 of man. In all this history the deceased senator, un- 
 shrinking, unselfish, and equal to the occasion, bore 
 well his part. It is enough for us to say, turning down 
 here the leaf of history u[)on his career, that none of 
 his august associates, either of the earlier or later part 
 oi' this great period, were more worthy of the high 
 office he bore. It is not now, in this presence, undue 
 praise to say that in the review of sixteen years of 
 memorable senatorial service, amid complications and 
 perils unprecedented in our annals, he has left nothing, 
 in word or deed, that he can wish to blot from his dying 
 record. He satisfied the country he served. He 
 strengthened the cause he honored with his support. 
 His labors were attended with constantly-increasing 
 
success, and bis life, roumlecl to its full period, closed 
 with the respect of adversaries, the confidence of con- 
 stituents, the affection of friends, and the approval of 
 the world. 
 
 It would be unjust to claim for him in any especial 
 degree those brilliant qualities of mind or manner 
 which, in the judgment of some persons, constitute the 
 grace and charm of parliamentary life. It was his 
 apjiarent choice the approval rather than the applause 
 oi" listening senators to command. All nations have 
 regarded with pride the master-pieces of rhetoric and 
 passion, as well as of massive reason and diction, which 
 the w^orld calls eloquence. Our countrymen, perhaps, 
 carry this reverence to excess. It is not by any means 
 the highest attainment of statesmen, and often is found 
 unaccompanied by any quality of mind or heart which 
 c[ualifies men for affairs of government. Speech-making 
 is scarcely a high art. It is rather what Dr. Johnson 
 calls it — a knack. It is not comparable in real import- 
 ance with the power of conversation or of debate in 
 its true sense, still less capacity for administration. 
 Exuberance, and even extravagance, of speech, how^- 
 ever, arc the counterpart and accompaniment of liberty. 
 A vice in individuals it may be, but it is the image of 
 virtue in an age. But it is not in itself power, nor Ihe 
 accompaniment of power. Power exists in integrity 
 and truth. Rhetoric sustains as well the apparent as 
 the real cause. Great rulers have been almost invari- 
 ably silent, thoughtful men. If it were well to gild 
 
rc'ljncd gold or paiut Ihti lily, \vc riiighl add lo lljr; 
 majesty of grcal; actions the afniierjcc and onjanjcnt of 
 exuberant and (dofjuent diction. ]Uii the ^erjatfjr v. e 
 rnfjurn n(;v(;r fliilfMl in strong logic, convincing illustra- 
 tion, or intense n^ason, when it was required to satisly 
 the world of the justice of his convictions or the wis- 
 dojij (A' his principles. Speech in him rather served to 
 sustain than command the judgnjcnt ]{<t had other 
 avenues to the human lieait than those of imagination 
 or persuasion. He silenced adversaries and sustained 
 friends Ijy more effective, though less brilliant, ajipeals. 
 He depended lor success upon mon; enduring and nobler 
 qualities. Firmness of purjjose, fullness of experic^nce 
 and information, integrif:y of principle, constancy to 
 duty, purity of character, serenity of mind, correct 
 judgment, unflinching courage, and unceasing and honest 
 labor, were the weapons with which he won his con- 
 quests or turned or struck a blow. In him spoke an 
 earnest, intelligent mind, and the illustrious common- 
 wealth he represented. Individual capacity and repre- 
 sentative integrity gave him authority and won for him 
 the unfading honors which will forever rest u])on his 
 name. We recur with unalloyed pleasure upon this 
 sad occasion to the principles which adorned the life of 
 the departed statesman. Love of man and love of 
 country illustrated every act of his public career. Jt 
 is scarcely possible that it should have fjeen otherwise 
 in private life. "P^'or where was public virtue to be 
 found where private was not?" No trace of selfish 
 
aspiration, of" unmanly detraction, or sordid jealousy, 
 tarnished his official course. I do not know, in this 
 hurried estimate of character, wliat in him was wanting 
 that is necessary to the formation of a pure, patriotic, 
 Christian character. His life is proof that success in 
 pul)lic service is not inconsistent with strict integrity, 
 and that advancement does not always wait on dissim- 
 ulation .and corruption. The manly simplicity which 
 distinguished him ought not, in this age of ostentatious 
 and effeminate luxury, to pass unnoticed. It was 
 neither complaisance nor austerity. His manner was 
 unchanged, whether in the Executive chamber, the 
 Senate, the committee-room, or the social circle. He 
 would have been the same to peer and peasant. The 
 ripe age to which he lived, his unimpaired energies, his 
 genial and generous temperament, his clastic step, and 
 the jocund health so constantly beaming in his open, 
 maidy countenance, all attest the purity of his habits 
 of mind and body. They were those of the people he 
 represented. He could doubtless have shared with 
 pleasure in their mountain home — 
 
 "A Roman meal, 
 Such as the mistress of the world found 
 Delicious, when her patriots of high note, 
 Perhaps hy moonlight, at their humble doors, 
 And under an old oak's domestic shade, 
 Enjoyed, spare feast! a radish and an eggl " 
 
 It would 1)0 the unanimous judgment of men that 
 such (•ai)acity and experience ought to be spared for the 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 97 
 
 direction of the generations tliat succeed each other. 
 But the law of Providence is otherwise; one existence 
 cannot span two lives. It is a consolation to know 
 that the senator we mourn lived the time allotted to 
 man, and that be died full of years and of honors. Ilis 
 career is perhaps not yet ended. He who spoke the 
 universe into existence, who said "Let there be light, 
 and there was light," who created man in His own 
 image, and gave .him dominion over the earth, may 
 have called him to another sphere for higher duties. 
 We may have yet the benefit of his love, if not of his 
 care. It is but a step from one life to another, which 
 all alike must follow, from the lea&t unto the greatest, 
 until we are one with God! Happy it will be for us 
 if, in sharing the common lot, we close a career as long, 
 as useful, as honorable, as pure, as his whose loss we 
 mourn. The great struggle which opened and closed 
 with his career was finished. He had assisted in 
 removing from the escutcheon of his country the foul 
 stain that tarnished its lustre. He had fought the fight 
 and kept the tliith. His name was honored among 
 men. He had received the highest honors of his State, 
 and of that Senate to which he belonged. He had 
 completed his work. Surrounded by family and fj-iends, 
 he reviewed his life and settled his accounts with man. 
 He took his last farewell of those nearest and dearest 
 to him. He made peace with God. He was conscious 
 his end had come. He; caught even from this side 
 glimpses of the l)lissJ"ul mansions above. He asked not 
 
 7f 
 
delay. What restrains the flight of that immortal 
 spirit! He has one thought, one last thought, more. 
 It is for his country. He is lifted from the couch of 
 death that his eyes may again rest upon its Capitol- 
 The massive columns, the extended wings, the sculj)- 
 tured emblems of its progress and power, the rising 
 root; the majestic dome, the Goddess of Liberty sur- 
 mounting all, and pointing the w\ay he was to follow, 
 gave him the last taste of earthly pleasure! It is the 
 palace of the people, the symbol of Union, the temple 
 of Liberty, and with this sentiment impressed upon 
 his immortal spirit he passed from earth to God! May 
 his translation be to- us instruction and example. 
 
 Address of Mr. Washburne, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: On becoming a member of the House 
 of Representatives in the thirty-third Congress, in the 
 month of December, 1853, 1 first made the acquaintance 
 of Solomon Foot, then a senator in the Congress of 
 the United States from the State of Vermont. I had 
 knowii something of his previous political history, and 
 was aware that he had enjoyed in a high degree the 
 respect and coniidence of the people of his native State. 
 To possess the confidence and receive the support of 
 the citizens of Vermont is no meagre or indifferent 
 compliment. No State has ever guarded more carefully 
 
the selection of its representatives in the national coun- 
 cils, for within my recollection no man in either branch 
 of Congress from that State has ever proved faithless to 
 lil)erty, or has ever had the stain of dishonor or venality 
 upon his garments. It is in the Green Mountain State 
 that there is to be found the type of the truest democ- 
 racy, resting upon the immutable basis of universal 
 intelligence and public virtue. In no State can be 
 found a loftier patriotism, a more ardent love of liberty, 
 and a more undying hatred of slavery than among the 
 constituents of the late distinguished senator from Ver- 
 mont. When maddened treason raised its parricidal 
 hand to tear down the fabric of our government, and 
 the torch of civil war was lighted, the people of no 
 State rallied with greater alacrity and enthusiasm than 
 the people of the State of Vermont. Her brave and 
 hardy sons filled all her highways and byways ; they 
 came forth from her iiills and valleys, and from all the 
 gorges of her ever-green mountains, and marched with 
 the rapidity of the eagle to the defence of their imper- 
 illed country, and to vindicate the honor and the glory 
 and the unity of the republic. I say, sir, to have-been 
 honored and trusted by such a people to the extent that 
 Mr. Foot was honored and trusted is one of the highest 
 compliments that could have been paid to a public man. 
 As lias l)een stated, he entered the Senate in 1850, and, 
 Ijeing twice re-elected, served continuously till the time 
 of his death. Hence he served through the most ex- 
 citing and turbulent period of our whole legislative his- 
 
tory, and was a participant in the revolutionary scenes 
 which, to the philosophic observer, were the omens of 
 that terrible civil war that has drenched our country in 
 blood. I saw him in the Senate in the thirty-third 
 Congress, one of the little band of courageous and pa- 
 triotic men who resisted with unsurpassed ability and 
 eloquence the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I 
 saw him when the slaveholders, in the pride and inso- 
 lence of their power, undertook to " crush out" in the 
 Senate every aspiration for liberty, and every noble and 
 elevated sentiment of freedom ; when treason, upheld 
 l)y a perfidious and treacherous Executive, stalked 
 through the Senate hall with brazen impudence, and 
 when the galleries howled their applause of traitors. 
 Undaunted and undismayed, while all the poUtical ele- 
 ments were lashed into fury around liim, he l)ore him- 
 self in a manner becoming an American senator, and 
 courageously vindicated his own lopinions and the sen- 
 timents and convictions of his own liberty-loving con- 
 stituents. From his long association and thorough 
 acquaintance with the southern senators, Mr. Foot 
 early fathomed their wicked designs and their treason- 
 able purjioses, and from the moment those purposes 
 found an utterance in the hostile camion that opened 
 upon Fort Sumter, his heart and soul, his thoughts and 
 his energies, were all given to his country. With a loy- 
 alty so devoted and uncompromising, witli a love of 
 country amounting to a passion, he everywhere de- 
 nounced treason and its aiders and abettors with the 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 101 
 
 most vehement indignation. At the time of his death 
 he was the oklest member of the Senate in consecutive 
 service. Every year increased his reputation and con- 
 firmed his character as a steadfast friend to his country, 
 an enhghtened statesman, and a wise and incorruptible 
 k^gislator. He was a man of education and intcUigence, 
 of a vigorous intellect, and an enhghtencd understand- 
 ing; of giant strength and an imposing presence, he 
 was a genuine specimen of a Vermonter. As ])rcsiding 
 officer of the Senate for a long period he distinguished 
 himself by his promptness, dignity, urbanity, and fair- 
 ness. He brought to the discharge of all his duties a 
 conscientious devotion to the best interests of the na- 
 tion. Active, industrious, vigilant, no duty to his con- 
 stituents and the country was ever left unperformed, 
 and so prompt and regular was he in attendance upon 
 the daily sessions of the Senate that it could be said of 
 him as the historian says of the younger Cato, " he was 
 always first at the Senate, and went out last." 
 
 Mr. Foot bore a prominent part in all our legislation 
 during the war for the Union, and his influence and 
 vote were always given to the most energetic measures, 
 and those best calculated to strengthen the hands of the 
 government in its gigantic task of saving the country. 
 To the administration of Mr. Lincoln he gave a warm 
 and. even an enthusiastic su})port. I had occasion to 
 know of the strength of his attachment to that distin- 
 guished man, and to know how gratefully his friendship 
 was reciprocated. Mr. Lincoln had not in the whole 
 
length and breadth of the land a more eai-nest and sin- 
 cere friend, and no man stood by him through all the 
 perils and difficulties of his administration with more 
 unflinching devotion, and the people of Illinois will 
 cherish this remembrance with gratitude. And when 
 the time came for the representatives of a great and 
 heart-stricken people to pay the last tribute of respect 
 and atfeCtion to the memory of their martyr President, 
 it was litting and proper that Mr. Foot, the pater sen- 
 atus, should, as the chairman of the joint committee of 
 the two houses, be charged with the management of 
 the proceedings. Profoundly anxious that the ceremo- 
 nies should be worthy the august occasion, he entered 
 on his duties with zeal and enthusiasm. Pie devoted 
 himself with untiring energy to the accomplishment of 
 the purpose. No man understood better than he did 
 what belonged to such an occasion, and he gave his 
 personal attention to all the details, and saw for himself 
 that nothing which was necessary to be done was left 
 undone. The day was cold, stormy, cheerless. At an 
 early hour Mr. Foot's duties commenced. The crowd 
 was great, and the pressure for admittance was tremen- 
 dous, and he had to exert himself to the utmost to see 
 that order was preserved, and that the arrangements 
 were properly carried out. And all who were present 
 know how admirably and satistiictorily everything 
 passed olf 
 
 Though it was my fortune to be associated with him 
 in that duty, it is Ijut just to say that all the credit of 
 
the successful mauagemcnt of the ceremonies belonged 
 to him. After the i)rocee(lings were over, exhausted 
 and overcome with fatigue, Mr. Foot went to his lodg- 
 ings, and that night was attacked with the disease 
 which terminated his liie. I saw him at his rooms two 
 days after he was taken sick, and he then believed him- 
 self so far recovered that he would l)e enabled to go 
 with me the next morning to call on the distinguish(Ml 
 citizen who delivered the (ndogy, and to convey to him 
 the resolution of Congress, re(|uesting a copy of the 
 same for publication. lie was not, however, a))lc to 
 go, but sent his colleague in the Senate, Judge Poland, 
 in his place. On the next day, Friday, the IGth day of 
 February, the late senator from Vermont ap})eared in 
 the Senate for the last time, and made his final re])ort 
 as chairman of the joint committee of arrangements, 
 and his last motion was, that " the report and accom- 
 panying papers be printed." He continued to take a 
 deep interest in the publication of Ihe eulogy and the 
 proceedings connected therewith, and the last official 
 act of his life was to api)rove a portrait of Mr. Lincoln, 
 which is to be the frontispiece to the volume of the 
 ])ublished proceedings. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, when we contemplate the great changes 
 that have taken place among the public men who were 
 associated with Mr. Foot when he first entered the 
 Senate, and since the time when you and I first entered 
 these halls, we are admonished how fleeting and evan- 
 escent are all things human. How few are left to 
 
104 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 struggle on hut yet a little longer, to buffet the waves and 
 encounter the storms and the tempests of political Mfe ! 
 
 "Apparent rari nantes, iu gurgite vasto." 
 
 Vermont mourns the loss of her faithful and devoted 
 public servant, and the nation shares in her grief. He 
 followed, alas! too soon, him who had so lately been his 
 colleague. The mournful accents of eulogy pronounced 
 in this chamber upon the illustrious Collamer had 
 scarcely died away before we were called upon to follow 
 to the grave his companion, adviser, friend, so long asso- 
 ciated with him in the service of the country. These 
 two great American senators, both alike eminent for 
 their Christian virtues, their eminent statesmanship, 
 their devoted patriotism, their long and useful public 
 services, and their unsullied integrity, have passed 
 away, and the places on earth that have known them 
 will know them no more forever. They have gone, but 
 they have left to the country the richest legacy in the 
 recollection of their well-spent and honored lives. 
 
 Address of Mr. John L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 I rise, Mr. Syeaker, to second the resolution of the 
 gentleman from Vermont. In the discharge of public 
 duty the paths of the senator and the representative, of 
 necessity, lie measurably apart. Most of Mr. Foot's 
 political convictions were not mine. With such ob- 
 
stacles in the way of intimate relations, either private 
 or official, I cannot, of course, reveal those finer and 
 higher qualities of his nature which great spirits like 
 his never parade before the world, and display only 
 upon impulse to the most sincere and afiectionate of 
 friends. But I know of him what all men knew of 
 him, and I esteem it a privilege which any just man 
 might seek to add my voice to the universal exclama- 
 tions of sorrow which his death has wrung from every 
 part of the land. It is unnecessary to repeat here Mr. 
 Foot's long and arduous services in public place. The 
 country is familiar with his record. 'It is enough that 
 his own State kept him so long in the Senate that at 
 the close of his life he was regarded as the lather of 
 the body — the oldest of all in continuous service. He 
 mingled in those debates of the Senate which the 
 common judgment of mankind assigns a place beside 
 the grandest specimens of classic oratory, when they 
 were conducted l^y statesmen who were the rivals of 
 Chatham, Burke, and Fox. He sat under the impetu- 
 ous eloquence of Clay, the terse and severe logic of 
 Calhoun, the rich and luminous periods of Webster. 
 He was there amid those portentous scenes which pre- 
 ceded the late civil war, when all hearts were oppressed 
 with the deep dread of coming disaster, when the 
 friends of free institutions in the Old World, and many 
 in the New, feared that the American Union was 
 crumbling into fragments. It was the mightiest conflict 
 that ever shook the earth. He saw from that hiirh 
 
theatre, as well of contention as of observation, the rise, 
 career, and downfall of several political parties Of 
 such long experience, full of years and full of honors, 
 wise and prudent, pure and upright, brave but philo- 
 sophic, surely Solomon Foot was the Nestor among 
 his official peers. Few men's opinions were ever sought 
 with more respect or received with more reverence than 
 his. In the midst of a revolution, second only to the 
 "reign of terror" which drenched France with blood, 
 and filled her beautiful cities and gardens with the 
 graves of her people, when all our fiercest passions 
 were aroused, his counsels to the ends of moderation 
 and justice, soothing and subduing the vengeful feelings 
 of the time, fell like the voice of that "old man elo- 
 quent" under the gates of Troy. Though he was gifted 
 with remarkable firmness of purpose, and his mind had 
 a sort of Roman vigor, he was eminently a good and 
 eminently a mild man. It may be said that he com- 
 bined the modesty of a woman with the constant 
 integrity of Cato. Of Mr. Foot's moral character I 
 need only say that it was without and above reproach. 
 He was fearless and determined in the assertion of a 
 right; but he was equally careful of the rights of others. 
 No lure and no force could seduce or drive him to the 
 perpetration of that which he knew to be wrong. lie 
 had that judicial cast of mind which constrains its pos- 
 sessor to analyze thoroughly, with patience and perse- 
 verance, whatever is submitted for decision, and to 
 eliminate, witli unerring precision, all the elements of 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 107 
 
 evil. If he had not been a great senator, he would 
 have been a great judge. The circumstances of Mr. 
 Foot's departure from this life were of too sacred and 
 hallowed a nature to be detailed here. Conscious that 
 dissolution wa^ rapidly approaching, he showed the 
 high qualities of his character in the religious fervor 
 and the steadfast hope, which grew warmer and stronger 
 as he died. To the very latest moment he shed upon 
 all who entered his presence the inspiration of a large 
 and enlightened soul. The last parting glance of the 
 expiring senator was turned to the dome of this Capitol. 
 He begged to be lifted that he might see it once more — 
 the scene of his long labors, the spot wiiere he had well 
 earned the veneration of his countrymen — and then 
 closed his eyes on the earth forever. It was the exhi- 
 bition of the same patriotic fervor so eloquently ex- 
 pressed by Webster in his reply to Hayne. He rejoiced 
 to see that the flag was still there, "full high advanced," 
 the emblem of our nationahty and the Union of the 
 States. Mr. Foot has gone to his grave in the same 
 soil with that other pure and honored senator of Ver- 
 mont, who preceded him but a few months. It is said 
 that amid the mighty mountains freedom loves to rear 
 her brave and sturdy children. But no mountains on 
 the globe, not even those of Scotland, which overlook 
 the grave of Bruce, or those of Switzerland, which cast 
 their shadows over that of William Tell, have ever kept 
 sentry over the tombs of two nobler men or hardier 
 patriots than do the Green mountains of A^ermont. 
 
108 ADDRESSES ON Til 13 
 
 Address of Mr. CJkinnkll, of Iowa. 
 
 Mr. SrKAKKii: 'V\\i^ words of all'cclion wxv few, and 
 only llioso shall 1 iidcr. II is a ploasiiii;; rolloclion liiai 
 luy oarly yrars woi-o spent near I lie nio*iinlaiii liomc of 
 the laiiicnlcd senator. lie ijfave nie assurance of his 
 iViendshii) ; an<l llial he cherished the inein!)rv oi" my 
 dearest (h'l'cased kindi'cd lurnishes nie an occasion to 
 |)ay a hv'\c\' and sorrowlid trihntc to his character and 
 virlnes. '^Pliat hioii^raphy which follows the enloii^istic 
 sketches in tlu; forimi will j)lace the deceased in the 
 front rank ol our truly Americanized <i^onllemen and 
 statesiiKMi, the measure of whose success should Ix^ un- 
 Sepurated irom the associations and means l>y which it 
 was attained. 'V\\o i»rave senator ever with emotion 
 and pride spoke of the rural town of Cornwall, \'er- 
 mont, where lie was born. Its population is not a 
 thousand souls, and less than at the hei^nmiinii; of this 
 century, yet has the distiiiij^uished honor, in addition to 
 an intelliiicnt yeomanry, that of ("urnishint,^ thirty-si.\ 
 educated cleri>ymen, eii,ditcen lawyers, twenty-llire(^ 
 j)iiysicians, and l()urteen prolessional teachers. Its 
 town institutions were tlu^ churcli, tlu^ lyceuni, auvl the 
 school. In the church yomii;" Solomon was l)a|>ti/ed; 
 at tile lyceuni he spoke to i^ive promise of future emi- 
 nence: and the school he left to hecome a teacher and 
 colleiic ijraduale, later tutor, and lounder and head of" 
 an institution of learniuii^. II(^ honored the vocation 
 t)f the schoolmaster, and never wc^iried in i^iviuLi; this 
 
ijEA'ni OF HON, hOLOJMO-N i OOT. lOj 
 
 JjumbKj profr^HHlorj cutd'ti \'ur jIh d'^vofion lo a n;f)fjf;(J 
 f;jvjJjzatJorj arjfJ Ihf: 'yicjif'.ml w*JJaro. •\Villj IrijJy Af/j'tri- 
 can hjnjjilicity \i(t lauj/hl our }'o(j1}j H<'M'-r(t['i'dftcji, and lor 
 hJffiK'::]f' }j'.' o\vf;fJ it()\\i'ui'^ to v,'<;aJl[j, tho parljalily of 
 f'ri'jfjd^, or ibc ihhuo of cafrj];aii(nis. J Jo ntisurdfui it ah 
 forlunato that fio wan calJod in dihojjjjjfjo 1/> trr^ad tho 
 futni, rough patljH of iJlo. JIo wah proud of hJn or'i'/m ; 
 and tfjat filial aflodion of a f'athorJoHh fjoy for a dolj/jj/ 
 afjd devoted mother wan an miuury of future fidelity 
 and devotion to the riatiorial weal most forl.ufjate'ly 
 realize^l in more than a qixarter of a cefitury of nerviee, 
 and ending with one of the moht gJoriouh trif^utoh ori 
 record to tfje wortJj of parenf;al inhtruetion and tfje 
 reality and value of the Chrihtiiin religion. Ah huhhand 
 and father he waK doting and beloved ; a scholar wiili- 
 out pedarjtr}' ; a gentleman free from the atlh of the 
 cjmrilftr; ]}r3i\(i in action without bravado; matchh;h^H 
 in volume and HweetrxehK of voice; perhuahive in elo- 
 quence, y^ft abHtemiouj* in ><f>eech ; genial ah a com]>afi- 
 ion, unwavering in friendivhip; in society 
 
 " J-'liarjt a'r: r<:^><is wlifrrf; Ktr<:Ami-; <A' ir<y<'Aom j^Jid*:;" 
 
 A henat^^r and fetateiiman, 
 
 " I'in/j as ili<; IjjUk to )iU;m oijijkshuou'h tide." 
 
 W'heeling in oAdian on life's htrr:^m, he could not [pre- 
 vent the gaze of the multitude, and ever in the pre^en^M; 
 of the ciaimh of iionor, mercy, and jubtiw, hii< noble 
 heart wais so iuo\(iii tliat thife is its fitting ax>;^>rd and 
 representation : 
 
"His life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mixed in Iwm, that Nature might stand up 
 And nay to all the world, this wa« a man." 
 
 Boroavf'd and galhiiil jx'ophM)! Vcniioiil, inillioiis arc; 
 ill iiioiiiiiiiii^' with you to-day. Memorable in liislory 
 and conspiciioiis hy tlio scrvico ol" your public; servanls, 
 it has hccii your Ibduiu! (o runiish a iioblo (ixciiijilar 
 lor IIk; nation, ri'Ik'cting in character the grandeur ol" 
 }()ur evcu'-green nu)untains and the clear waters distilled 
 ill Iho rugged dills by Ihe juiiity and beiK^liceiice ol'liis 
 niemorable lile now ended. In th(3 shadow of Ihe slial'l 
 of the purest nutrble whicii will \)c. reared to comnienio- 
 rat(; his virtues in the chosen j)lace of his burial, he 
 shall sleep with more than the honors oTa martial hero, 
 H)r her(; he met a mightier than earth's mailed soldicM', 
 the "king of terrors," and with a smih;. AN'ith a pre- 
 monition of an early dissolution, he was raised from 
 his pillow to gaze once more upon this Capitol, and 
 then, with mortal vision ended, to behold in its bright- 
 ness the city ol" the living (}()d, the home of tlu; ran- 
 somed soul. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the eil'ort to enlorce the lessons otsueli 
 a life illumined by divine smiles would be almost a pro- 
 fane altein|)l. it has more than tlu; award of the gods. 
 Sol creticentes decendens dupUcat umbras, and by so tar 
 as eternity is unmeasured by time will his setting sun 
 add to the lengthened shadows. I would accept it as 
 a high honor to have recognized the proifer of the ser- 
 vice, which I would make, by the thousands in the west 
 
ulj(^ claim |)al(;rnlly with llic sons of the tiKjunlaius wlio 
 Ijave l(.'fl the old house-tree, in beirjf^ their lionorfMJ ser- 
 vant in \)(-'dn]i<r the llowc^rs of allcetion IVoin the prai- 
 ries, the valley, and the- ni(jiintaljis, tnoiKt(,'n(;d vvjlh Iheir 
 tears in memory oi" a iriend vvIkj now sleeps in sej)iil- 
 turc among the people whom he faithfully served, and 
 by whom he was so ardently loved. 
 
 Address of Mr. Mokkili.. of Vermont. 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Never before in the history of our 
 government has a State been called upon to mourn the 
 loss of both its senators at a single session of Congress. 
 \'ermont weeps, for her senators are not. Only a f"ew 
 days since and our tribiites (jf sorrow bedewed the 
 grave atjd wreathed the memory <A' Collamer, wliose 
 unblemished career had conferred honor not only upoji 
 his State, but upon our whole country. Then the 
 senator whose decease we now mourn spoke, in un- 
 broken health and strength, of the life and many virtues 
 (){ his late illustrious associate in terms of great fulness 
 and rare beauty; but how remote from him was the 
 suspicion that in so brief a time his survivors would 
 be called upon to delineate his own character, his 
 private worth, and j>ublic services, not less conspicuous, 
 and, though much unlike, moving in orbits wid<;ly 
 apart, equally meritorious. Seldonj has any State bf;en 
 
represented by the suine senators for so long Ji time, 
 and still nion; seldom so littingly rej)resente(i by those 
 of so much eminence and uncjuestioned integrity and 
 ability. 
 
 My colleague (Mr. Woodbridge) has so ha|)i)ily and 
 eloquently portrayed the history oi" Senator Foot, while 
 others have so generously acknowledged his worth, 
 that little more remains for me to contribute. Like; 
 many men who have ris(Mi I o distinction in aft(;r. lite, 
 (to copy his own language; appli(;d lo another,) "he 
 ovved nothing at all to Ihe fiu',titious aids or the ac(;i- 
 dental circumstances ol" birth, or fortune, or liunily 
 ])atronage." Having lost his liitJuir at the early age of 
 S(!V('n ^ears, he was iiKhibted to an excellent and pious 
 mother lor his early training and instruction, and l()r 
 the foundation ol" those high-toiu;d princi[)les of honor 
 aiul integrity which always guided him as a privnte 
 citizen and distinguished him as a pul)lic num. Not 
 born to aillucnce!, he was while yet a \)oy taught the 
 lesson of earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. 
 An incident at this time shows that his ambition had 
 early been touched by th(3 ethereal fire. A man with 
 whom he lived for a short time, when about fourteen 
 years of age, S(!nt him with a team to "drug" in some 
 seed sown the previous day. Along in the middle of 
 the forenoon the team was discovered witliout a driver, 
 and the work accomplishcMl ap])(\ired v(;ry inconsid(!r- 
 able. At last young Foot was I'ound in a corner oltlie 
 fence, lying flat on the grass. To the question as to 
 
DEATH OF irON. SOLOMON FOOT. 1 1 .'j 
 
 what he was doing thero he replied, "I arn thinking 
 what I shall say when I <j('A, to be a member of" Con- 
 gress." Thus "the child is the father of" the man." If 
 any of these field thoughts ever IbiDid utterance in 
 Congress, they had not to wait much longer than those 
 said to have been conceived in the early morning on 
 the ram])arts of Quel)ec, and which, many years after, 
 enihellish(;d oixi of the most mcjinorable speeches of 
 Daniel Webster. 
 
 While yet a young man, Mr. Foot often repre- 
 sent(Ml Rutland, the place of his residence, in the 
 legislature of Vermont, and nearly as often was made 
 speaker of the; house of representatives; and here 
 he first displayed his extraordinary aptitude for the 
 discharge of the duties of" a presiding officer over a 
 deliberative assembly. This fiiculty was soon dis- 
 covered and early recognized in the Senate of the 
 United States, where he was repeatedly elected to the 
 office of President ^^rt* tempore, and where he was, ])er- 
 liaps, more frequently called to \\ut duties of the chair 
 than any other senator. It is just to say that much of 
 the dignity ascribed, as well as properly })ertaining, to 
 that branch of Congress may be credited, lor the last 
 fifteen years, to Senator Foot's high example of de- 
 corum, order, and thorough knowledge of parliamentary 
 routine. He despatched business with admiral)le 
 ])rornj)tness, with equal fairness and grace, and he held 
 at all times both Senate and the galleries under complete 
 contnd by his commanding presence and his most un- 
 
 8 P 
 
mistakable emphasis. His call to order, like the sound 
 of a trumpet, was heard and heeded. From his 
 decisions of parliamentary law there was no appeal 
 asked or desired. His dignified bearing and urbanity 
 during his service in the chair, as well as in the faithful 
 discharge of all other senatorial duties, his massive 
 features and courtly manners, will cause him to be 
 associated with and long remembered as a prominent 
 figure — a representative man — of the Senate of the 
 United States. He will also be remembered as one of 
 the last of those who entered the field of statesmen 
 while the great men of the last generation — Webster, 
 Clay, and Calhoun- yet lingered on the stage. 
 
 His speeches while in this house on the Mexican war, 
 in 1846 and 1847, were able and fearless expositions of 
 its origin and character, and received the hearty ap- 
 proval of a large proportion of the northern people. 
 In the Senate not all of his speeches have been re- 
 ported in the Globe ; certainly one of his best never 
 appeared, for the reason that he retained the report for 
 revision until it was too late to .be inserted. His 
 patriotism enfolded his whole country, and, bidding 
 defiance to all party ties, when the honor and glory of 
 his country seemed imperilled, he roused all the energies 
 of his impassioned nature, and rushed to the rescue. 
 This temper appeared in his speech, in 1856, on the 
 Central American question, when Enghmd exhibited 
 her traditionary ambition for universal empire, hy her 
 pretensions connected with Honduras. He said: 
 
DEATH OF HON. SOLOMON FOOT. 115 
 
 " Standing in opposition as I do to the present national adminis- 
 tration ; differing from it as I do most widely and radically upon 
 almost every question of domestic policy, I am the more happy in 
 being able to accord to it the tribute, worthless though it may be, of 
 my sincere and entire approval of the position it has taken upon this 
 quL-stion. However we may be divided among ourselves, however 
 we may contend and wrangle upon questions of domestic interest 
 and of local policy, yet, when it comes to a question with a foreign 
 power, wherein our national honor and our national interest are con- 
 cerned, as in the present instance, let us exhibit to the world the 
 beautiful and sublime spectacle of a great, a united, a hannonious 
 people; a people having one mind, one heart, and one purpose." 
 
 Among the speeches reported, that upon the Kansas 
 constitution, better known as the " Lecompton swin- 
 dle," was one of his best, and of marked excellence. 
 The plot to force a pro-slavery constitution upon a free 
 people was shown up with all its revolting features. 
 Not a frequent speaker in the Senate, he was yet 
 always listened to with attention when he did speak 
 upon any subject; and upon those subjects immediately 
 confided to his charge he possessed its entire confi- 
 dence. His recent eulogy upon his deceased colleague 
 was not only worthy of the occasion, Init was a good 
 specimen of the senator's matter and manner, and when 
 delivered awakened responsive chords in the hearts of 
 all hearers by its impressive eloquence and chastened 
 beauty. As a public speaker before a public audience 
 Mr. Foot occupied no mean rank. His noble figure 
 and full-toned voice at once arrested attention. Never 
 begi'udging preliminary i)reparation, his s])eeches were 
 
 L 
 
clear, forcible, and well sustained to the end. His style 
 never lacked elevation, and, without being ornate, was 
 affluent and scholarly. Though admirable in temper, 
 he could yet employ invective at times with crushing 
 effect, and declaimed with the daring impetuosity of a 
 master who felt able to both ride and guide the storm 
 he was creating. But his great strength lay in his ab- 
 solute earnestness. His voice gave forth no uncertain 
 sound. No man ever heard him speak and went away 
 in doubt as to his meaning, or as to which side of the 
 argument he had espoused. Having satisfied his own 
 judgment that he was right, he embarked his whole 
 soul and strained every nerve in the effort to bring his 
 audience to the same conclusions with himself He 
 was both sincere and positive, and utterly incapable of 
 guile or double-dealing. His integrity, moral and po- 
 litical, was as firmly fixed as the mountains beneath 
 whose shadow he was born, and there was never any 
 doubt or speculation upon any question as to where he 
 would be found. When he spoke, therefore, he brought 
 to bear not only cogent argument, but the influence of 
 a true man, the weight of an experienced legislator. 
 
 As chairman of the Committee on PubHc Buildings 
 he had for a long period taken a deep interest in the 
 work of the Capitol extension. His ideas were lib- 
 eral — coextensive with the grandeur of the nation — 
 and he would build well and for all time. He felt a 
 pride in the splendors of the structure, fondly con- 
 templated the time of its completion in all its parts, 
 
when all the vacant niches as well as the old hall of 
 the House of Representatives should be filled with 
 the statues of our fathers, when the surrounding 
 grounds should be enlarged, and believed in the end 
 the world would not be able to show government 
 buildings and grounds more imposing or so appro- 
 priately magnificent. It was the Capitol of a nation of 
 freemen ! What wonder, then, that he should in his 
 last hour close the drama by wishing to be so raised in 
 his bed that his ey0*> might once more behold the rays 
 of the morning sun glittering upon the majestic dome 
 and illumining those halls wherein he had long Ijeen so 
 noted an actor. He was a modest man, and obeyed the 
 gospel precept, "not to think of himself more highly 
 than he ought to think," and esteemed " others" better 
 than himself Few men who spoke so well have been 
 able to content themselves with speaking so unfre- 
 quently. He always appeared to underrate his own 
 performances, and never, I believe, circulated any of his 
 speeches in pamphlet Ibrm, but he was generous and 
 hearty in his appreciation and circulation of those made 
 by others. 
 
 He was a man of courage. When he served 
 in this house, belonging to the old Whig • party, the 
 great radical abolitionist from the Ohio Ashtabula dis- 
 trict was also a member. Anti-slavery sentiments in 
 those days found little favor anywhere, and here en- 
 countered fiercest hate and frecpient violence on the 
 part of slaveholding representatives. Mr. Giddings 
 
once told mc that upon one occasion, when he had 
 uttered some unwelcome truth about the histitution of 
 barbarous memory, one of these chivalric representa- 
 tives rushed toward him evidently bent on mischief, and 
 that Foot at once sprang to his side ready to meet the 
 aggressor. The promptness of this action and the firm 
 port of Mr Foot awed the would-be assassin, and he 
 retired to his seat. Nobody, said Mr. Giddings, could 
 doubt the meaning of the one or the other. 
 
 The delicate as well as difficult duty of making up 
 the various committees of the Senate frequently fell to 
 his lot, and it was always performed with great discre- 
 tion and fairness. Here his modesty was apparent, for 
 he never so carved as to leave the choicest parts to 
 himself Mr. Foot was industrious, methodical, punc- 
 tual to all appointments, and never postponed the work 
 of to-day for the greater leisure of to-morrow. What- 
 ever he aimed to do he aimed to do well. 
 
 He was proud of Vermont, loved her history, and 
 wore her honors worthily. But he was not too proud 
 to labor for the humblest of his constituents, and l^y 
 his labors he added lustre to liis State and honor to the 
 nation. 
 
 If it Ije that God loves those who are ready for his 
 coming " in such an hour as ye think not," or those He 
 takes while yet in the full enjoyment of their strength 
 and hopes, with mind and reputation as well as faith in 
 the grace of God undimmed, then was Senator Foot 
 fortunate as he was happy in the time of his death. 
 
Life was at its acme, and lie filled as large a space in 
 the world as his highest ambition had ever coveted. 
 He had not tired himself, nor was the world tired by 
 his presence, but he seemed to see, as with a heavenly 
 vision, a welcome awaiting him in the new world to 
 which he was hastening, and exclaimed, "I see it! I see 
 it ! The gates are wide open ! Beautiful ! beautiful !" 
 Senator Foot was ])re-eminently a large-hearted man, 
 nursing no ill-natured jealousies in himself nor in 
 others ; far less did he indulge in any malice, and was 
 the readiest man I have ever known to forget and for- 
 give a seeming neglect or actual injury. Oj)ponents 
 never found his tongue lubricated by the serpent's 
 poison, nor did friends ever find themselves "damned 
 by faint praise," for he was lukewarm in nothing, but 
 distributed praise and blame openly, nianfully, and with 
 a most refreshing unction. For his friends he was 
 ready to make any sacrifices, jind he ol)eyed their be- 
 hests witli a cordial alacrity never to l)e forgotten by 
 those whom his position, official or other, enabled him 
 to assist. Our volunteer soldiers and officers, so sud- 
 denly called from industrial avocations to put down the 
 great rebellion, received his homage and tenderest so- 
 licitude. Of these he felt that the dead were all martyrs, 
 the living all heroes, and his gratitude was unbounded. 
 In his own State no public man ever possessed more of 
 the affection of the people, as was sufficiently shown by 
 his almost unanimous election by the Vermont legisla- 
 ture for a third term to the Senate of the United States. 
 
120 ADDRESSES ON THE 
 
 He always met his colleagues with the most cordial 
 salutations ; no ill-wind ever rippled over the surface of 
 their intercourse, and the most genial and affectionate 
 relations were maintained up to the latest moments of 
 his life. His loss to his family is irreparable, and so 
 profound is their grief as to find no solace save in the 
 contemplation of the dying senator's Christian faith. 
 The last utterances of great men are often treasured up 
 and serve to prove the strength of some ruling, possibly 
 petty, passion of the deceased ; but rarely have the last 
 words of any man been so fit to be reported to the 
 world, or such as to be more likely to be forever en- 
 graven on the hearts of his friends, than those of the 
 lamented Senator Foot. Without an enemy in the 
 world, loving God, and glowing with affection for all, 
 and especially for those who visited him in his last 
 hours, with eyes still beaming with all their w^onted 
 brilliancy, his unimpassioned words, so clearly articu- 
 lated, so lovingly tendered, were well calculated to touch 
 every heart by their wonderful pathos. 
 
 Honored senator ! true patriot ! faithful friend ! fare- 
 well ! 
 
 The resolution was adopted, and the House adjourned.