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ADDRESS 
 
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 OF THE 
 
 V 
 
 Uoiftorablc AKiram P. Maury, 
 
 ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HUGH LAWSON WHilE. 
 
 DELIVERED AT FRANKLIN, MAY 0, 1840. 
 
 PUBLISHED UY UEQUEST 
 
 FRANKLIN . 
 
 PRINTED AT THE REVIEW OFFICE. 
 

ADDRESS 
 
 The occasion which has broiiglit us here to day is one of melancholy inter- 
 est. A chiet' pillar of the Republic has been siruck clown by the mighty arm 
 ot" death. Hug^ L. White is no more! The place which he so worthily filled 
 amon" the sons of men is vacated, and vacated forever. From a denizen of 
 time, he has become an inhabitant of Eternity. That brain, "the dome of 
 thought, the palace of the soul," heretofore occupied, with such ceaseless ac- 
 tivity, in devising plans for the melioration of his kind, for the preservation 
 in their purity of his country's institutions, is tenantlcss and deserted. That 
 heart replete with every kindly feeling, every generous emotion^-which ever 
 throbbed vigorous responses to the calls of duty and of patriotism, that noble 
 heart is still and cold and pulseless in the tomb. Those lips, touched with 
 etherial fire; from which were wont to flov/, as from a fountain, the maxims of 
 wisdom, aud the precepts of experience, are sealed and hushed in the silence 
 of death. On us, O! never more on us, shall beam the light of that counte- 
 nance, in which were beautifully mingled the hues of benignity and iutoUigonce. 
 
 And is the announcement true? is he no more indeed? All of him that is 
 perishable; the lieshly tabernacle; the outward visible incarnation of the in- 
 ward invisible spirit, has indeed departed from among us. But the spirit, it- 
 self, survives — survives to awaken, to enkindle, to ennoble. Its flashes illumi- 
 nate thegbom oi the present, and will penetrate far, far into the darkness of 
 the future. 
 
 And, indeed, Death can achieve no triumph, permanent and decisive, over 
 the great and good. They whose acts have been one unbroken series of ben- 
 efactions to their species, are not of the things thai pass away. Thev live in 
 the beauty of their example. They exisi in the grateful remembrance of 
 their contemporaries. _ Tradition takes up and repeats the story of their 
 worth to succeedin'4 c^enerations. Their memories are embalmed in sonjr, 
 and cenotaphed in history. The silence of sylvan solitudes yields place to 
 whispers of their renown. The vallies chant their praises with the voice of 
 all their waters. The mountain echoes reverberate the grateful theme. 
 
 In the eye of Postevity, a nation exists but in its masterspirits: in the deeds" 
 which they perform; in the structures which they erect; in the institutions 
 which they mould; in the monuments, which they transmit, of their quicken- 
 ing influence over inert and lethargic masses of their fellow men; in the use- 
 ful truths and pregnant principles, which they discover and apply; in the rich 
 treasures with which they return freighted from incursions into the regions of 
 Kcience; in the manifold literature wliich embodies and displays the concej- 
 tions of their genius. 
 
 What know we of the history of those barbarian masses of mankind, who, 
 since the creation of the v/orld, have embraced within their limits much the 
 larger portion of its surface, but that, in obedience to the laws which, govern 
 alike the animal and vegetable kingdoms, thoy have lived and died, disappear- 
 ed and been replaced, by the conti^nualiy recurring processes of dissolution 
 and reproduction? What know we of Tyre and Sidon, whose mercliants art> 
 said, in Holy Writ, to have assumed the port and nniestv of Princes? Of 
 
Ciithage. a kiiiJre.l city, ex<:ept of that portion of her history, reclaimed 
 from oblivion bv the ij;eaiu.s and cichicveinents of Haauibal? 
 
 Ou the oth:M" hand, whi), \vi:h heart and eyes, (;an walk the place where 
 Greece once wa-;, and not feel that, at each step o\' his progress, he treads *on 
 Time's most sacreJ wealth, Heroic Dnst'? Who can stand where Athens 
 stood, and not be reminded of her master minds? Of Aristides the Just — of 
 Socrates, pronounced by the Delphic Oracle, the wisest of mankind — of So- 
 lon and of Pericles, those law givers who swaved the fierce democracv of 
 that turbulent but intellectual people — of Plato, from whose lips the bees of 
 Mi>unt ilymettus were said to have purloined their sweets,— of Demosthenes, 
 the patriot orator, who 'fulmined over Greece'? 
 
 \Viio can survey tne wrecks of that coUos^^al city, miscalled Eternal, wiih- 
 oul imagining that he sees, loomiiig through the dim vijta of the past, and mo- 
 ving in shadowy procession before him, the forms of her Patriots, her Sages, 
 and her Heroes? Wtio can stand witain the precincts of her Porum, and not 
 recall a tiiousand years of intelleclual strife and contest, of which it was the 
 Arena? and not feel, feel to the rising bosom's inmost core, that "sti'l the elo- 
 (juent air, breathes, burns with Cicero"? 
 
 Who can fix his regards on England, the Ocean Queen, seated in tlie midst 
 of a world oi waters, which bear to her shores the contributions of every 
 clime, without attributing her prosperity and renow;^, to the inlluence, main- 
 ly, of th:it mighty constellation of minds with which her history is starr'd? Ii 
 
 w:'s in England, that 
 
 Shakespeare, Nature's sweetest child, 
 Warbled his ii'itive wood-notes wild! 
 
 It was on England that tlie Epic Muse, refreshed by the slumber of ages, 
 from Milton's lips, poured the full tide of poetical inspiration. It was there 
 that Newton sat, in isolated and unapproachable grandeur, on the throne of 
 science. That Bacon fabricated and applied the master key which unlocked 
 the Arcana of nature. That Herschell enlarged the boundaries of astionom- 
 ical knowledge, and "gave the lyre of Heaven anotiier string." I'iiat Chn- 
 tham,for a lime, held the destinies of Christendom in his tliunder wielding 
 hund'^. 
 
 Coming to our own shores, what American citiz-^n can review the history 
 of his country, brief in point of time a^^ it necessarily is, without proudly say- 
 ing to himself "tnis is my own, my native land"! Or can trace the career 
 of liiin, 
 
 "The Forest born Demosthenes 
 
 Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas,'" 
 
 Or of him, of whom it was said that he snatcfied from the storm-cloud its 
 thunder boh. and iVoiu tyrany its sceptre, without exulting in the conscious- 
 ness, 
 
 "That Heniifs language is his motiier tongue, 
 Ai;J FranldnCs name compatriot wit.h hitJowii."? 
 
 Who can stand upon thegraveof |'Fo^-/z«fi'o;z, "and deem himself a slave"! 
 
 Such being the influence of great minds, not on their own age only, but on 
 all succeeding ages, every custom or observance which tentls to widen, and 
 deepen, and e>,lend that i!)flueiJce,'sliould he cherished and kept alive. And 
 here it may be observed, tiiat high iho/a! qualities, usel'ul civic virtues, are not 
 less entitled to our homage, than biilliant intellectual endowments. Suscep- 
 iiliieof more universal application, widerand more all comprehending in their 
 range, f o.ning home as they do to qxqvj pursuit and condition of life, they 
 challenge, in fact, a larger portion of yegaru. 
 
Among the dislinguislieJ men lo whom, lor t'le benefit of the species, ter- 
 restrial existence has been vouchsafed, the patriot ami statesman w liose la- 
 mented fate we this day de|)lore, occupies an enviable and eleva ed rank. — 
 And it is a source of regret tiiat tne task of po.i.-aying his ciiajacte.' had not 
 been assigned to a wortiiier i.istiument; to one mo e :''uKy conve sanl with 
 liis early history, and domestic habits — whose acquaintance, more iutimaiein 
 its nature, and exLending farther back into the past, would have enauied Irui to 
 present, not its marked outlines, only, but those mi.iute touches; I'lose fugitive 
 graces; tliose namoless unromomberod acts of Icindaes^ and of lo/e, w.iich 
 would give fi'Mness, and cons;stenc;', and completion to tiie portra"ti\re. 
 
 IIa:rii L. White was born in 1773, in t.ie coantv of Iredell and state of 
 INorth Carolina. Transplanted, at an ear! r age, with the iamily of iiis father, 
 to thai portion of this state now iiiU Tennessee, but tlien a houl'ng wilder- 
 ness, his youth was passed ia tne solituJes of nature; a:n"dst her lo'.y moun- 
 tains, and primeval forests; in the v'?/:!iage of savage tribes of Indians, it 
 was amidst scenes and associaLions su^h as these, that his youh''uI mind was 
 nurtured. It was in a coantry, in all save her glaciers, the Switzerland of 
 America, that he inhaled the nDuntain air of lioerty: taat ills na.crally deli- 
 cate frame acquired th« firm consistency, and capac'ty of endurance, wiiich 
 it ever afterwards retained. In the labors of the forest, and of the field — in 
 felling the one, and upturning the virgia bosom of the otiier to the sun, he 
 largely participated. With his neigibors and fiends, many of whom iuid 
 fought at King's mountain, and on other battle fie'ds of the revolution, he 
 shared in those conflicts with savage tribes incident to a border settlement, 
 with which the early historv of the West is rife. Young as he was, with the 
 axe or the plough handle in one hand, auii the rifle in the other, he was ever 
 prepared to sustain his double character of citizen, and of soldier. 
 
 Thus circumstanced and surrounded, it will readily be imagined, that he was 
 accustomed to hardships and privations; enured to haoits of industry; familiar 
 with scenes of excitement and of peril; that the severe and siniple virtues 
 were the inmates of his dwelling, cheered him in his manifold labors, accom- 
 panied him in his lonely rambles, and attended him in his intercourse with 
 soi^iety. It was thu-;, orobaoly, that his mind acquired tiio healthful tone, 
 elastic vigor, and aptitude for practical pursuits, w'.iich in after life, enabled 
 him to fill, with such di.-itinguisned usefulness, the various and important sta- 
 tions to which he was preferred. In a border community, shutout from the 
 universe, as it were, bv circling fo:'ests, the abode of savages and wild beasts, 
 the ties and sympatiiies which originate in a sense of mutual dependance, and 
 in the deep consciousness of common danger, multiply and extend themselves, 
 and knit together its various members in tno bonds of brotherhood. From 
 this as well, perhaps, as from an innate source, proceeded that warm and diiTu- 
 sive philanthropy, which, on eve:y object calculated to call it forth, was wont 
 to pour out from his heart as from an urn. 
 
 In consequence of the straightened circumstances of his father, (a man, bv 
 the way, of singular probity and piety) and of his distance from the higher 
 seminaries of learning, his early education was necessaiily defective. But it 
 is evident that the opportunities which he enjoyed, few and inadequate as they 
 njight have been, were sedulously improved. His mind was a school unto itself. 
 It i)ossessed, in an eminent degree, those chemical properties which extract 
 lood aad nourishment from every object on wnich it acts — decomposing, as- 
 similating, and distributing in appropriate channels through the mental sys- 
 tem ;ts component elements. We learn, however, that, by the generous ad- 
 
G 
 
 v.'inces of a biolher-in-law (Ool. McClung) he was onablerl to devote a winter 
 ill Philadel|ihia to the study of matheinatics, and to acquire the rudiments of 
 llie hiw, under the supervi;;ion of James Hopkins Esq. of Lancaster Penn., re- 
 puted able ill his profession. In 1796 he returned to Tennessee, and coni- 
 irienced the prac,tice ol the hiw at Knoxville. 
 
 In ISOl. at twenty eight years of age, he was appointed a Judge of the 
 Supreme court, wii,ich station he resigned in ISO?. In ISOS lie was made At- 
 torney of the United Stales ibr the district of Tennessee; and, in the follow- 
 ing year, elected to the Senate of the state Legislature. On the remodelling 
 of the Judiciary, which wa^" accomplished in ISOD, he was again advanced to 
 the Supreme bench; the duties of whjch station he continued to discharge 
 till 1S15, when he resigned, and accepted tlie presidency of the Bank of Ten- 
 nessee. In 1^17 he served another session in tlie Senate of the Slate Legisla- 
 ture. In 1S30 he received from President Monroe, the appointment of com- 
 missioner for the adjudication of claims under the treaty of the previous year 
 with Spain. In 1825 he was elected to the Senate of the United States, in 
 which body he was continued, by successive re-elections, till the period of his 
 resignation in February last. On the resignation of tlie Vice Presidency by 
 jMr. Calhoun he was elected to succeed him as presiding officer of the Senate. 
 This bare enumeration of the many stations which he filled attests the variety 
 and importance of the trusts coinmiutd to his charge. 
 
 As a lawyer he was jnborious in the preparation, and skilful in the manage- 
 ment, of causes. His diligence and application were only bounded by the 
 Jimits of tlie subject to be investigated. In his forensic efibrts, and Judicial 
 .opinions, he was clear in the statement of facts, and forcible and felicitous in 
 the application of principles. He seized upon the strong points of his case, 
 and wislJed them with a power of logic which carried conviction to the un- 
 derstanding. His thoughts v/er.- conveyed through a transparent medium of 
 plain, concise, perspicuous, language. This clearness of expression, united 
 with great exactness of arrangement, gave a beautiful simplicity to all the 
 productions, oral or written, of his mind. The weapons with which he 
 v/roUiTht beincr ideas and facts, not imao-es and illusions, he made no excursions 
 into the realms of jmaginalion. His illustrations were all drawn from obvi- 
 ous and practical sources, such as come home to the bosoms and business of 
 men. These characteristic features of his mind, united with eminent person- 
 al and moral qualities, acquired for him an extensive practice and a high rep- 
 utation. And it is no disparngement to his legal brethren, several of whom 
 have figured in the councils of the state and of the union, to say, that, witlun 
 the sphere of their mutual practice, he was indis!)utably at the head of the 
 profession. Such was tiic commanding nature of his talents, that, in a coun- 
 try where rivalry.appears to be not so much a casual incident, as an essential 
 element of public life, his numerous official honors were bestowed upon him 
 spontaneously, and without competition. 
 
 Judge White, it has been seen, was advanced to the Supreme bench at the 
 parly age of twenty eight. As a testimony of contemporaneous estimation, 
 il speaks in no equivocal lano-uaiie. For that court, at ail times the most im- 
 poriant Judicial tribunal in the state, requires ior the projjer discharge oi Us 
 functions, faculties and endowments of no common order. But, at this 
 time, its duties were espcriuliy and iranscendantly important. Tennessee 
 had been recently admiued into the union as an indepcndant State. Her 
 constilulion had just been formed. Laws weie being enacted, conformable to 
 its provisions, and suitable to the genius and peculiar. circumstances of her 
 
po-pTilation. it was the province of the Jutlitwaiy, especially of its tribunal 
 of last resort, to settle the construction of that constitution, and of those 
 laws — to protect the former from the inadvertent inroads of Legislation — to 
 explain and reconcile the dubious meanings, and often incompatible provis- 
 ions of the latter, framed, as ihey frequently were, by incompetent and un- 
 profe<?sional hands: to fix, in short, the land marks of precedent upon the 
 heights of Jurisprudence. It is to be regretted, that more full reports of the 
 decisions of this court, have not come down to us. The main principles, it 
 is true, have been preserved; the skeletons have, indeed, been transmitted; 
 but without the flesh and blood, the rounded contour and breathing lineaments 
 which give body and animation to th3 living form. Enough, however, ex- 
 ists in recorded sketches, and in the recollection of surviving contemporaries, 
 to establish the .Judicial reputation of White on a foundation as enviable as it 
 is permanent and indestructible. Young as he was, and impoitantas were 
 his functions, he imparted more lustre to the station, than it reflected dignity 
 on him. 
 
 His talents for fmance were not less remarkably exemplified, than his legal 
 attainments and qualifications. As President of the Bank of Tennessee, he 
 evinced a thorough knowledge of the principles of banking. Its affairs were 
 conducted with a prudence and wisdom, which preserved it in a condition of 
 uniform usefulness and prosperity. Watchfully observing the course of trade, 
 and sedulously restraining the expansions and contractions of the institution 
 within prescribed limits, he maintained the credit of its paper, and mitigated 
 the action of those commercial revulsions to which the country was occasion- 
 ally subject. In times of greatest pressure on the money market, it derived 
 an ample support from the sterling bullion of his character. Tliese remarks 
 are particularly applicable to the mother bank at Knoxville, which was more 
 immediately under his supervision. 
 
 In the ;ommission for the adjudicationfof Spanish claims, he was associa- 
 ted V "ith an eminent citizen of Maine, and a Virginian, the pride and boast of 
 his own stute, and renowned for his ripe scholarship, legal attainments, and 
 unri aied forensic powers. In business habits, in patient and searching in- 
 vest) 'ation, in the profound knowledge and felicitous application of legal 
 principles, and in the dexterity and power with which he simplified the com- 
 plicn lions, and unravelled the entanglements, of testimony. Judge White was 
 universally admitted to have equalled — if not surpassed — his gifted colleagues. 
 H'^acei orth he enjoyed a national reputation, which received large accessions 
 from the contributions of each succeeding vear. 
 
 In th'" disch rgeof his Legislative diUies, he was laborious and exemplary. 
 Regulr.; in atteridance on the Senate, he was punctual to the appointed time 
 of .iiei Jng, aiiu uniformly remained at his po^t till the hoir of adjournment. 
 During those protracted sessions, which sometimes reach far into the night, 
 he sat in his chair the personification of listening Patience, regardless, alike, 
 of the iroportnniiies of hunger, and the languors of exhaustion. He was 
 <^quaily p'lnctual in his attendance on committees. As Chairman, particular- 
 ly, of the committee on Indian affairs, his labors were assiduous and unremit- 
 ting. For many years the main burthen of our Indian relations — at least so 
 far ,": they depended on the action, legislative and executive, of the Senate — 
 devolved on him. These were, not infrequently, complicated with questions 
 cf the gravest and most delicate character — threatening, at one time, the in- 
 tegrity of the union itself These questions grew, partly, out of the equivo- 
 cal nature of the relations between savage and civilized communities, and 
 
parttv from the confiicting c-laims to juiisdicUon over tlie Indian tribe?, ad- 
 vanced l)V the authoiilies of the states in whose limits they were embraced, 
 and of tile general government. That the controversies, thus arising, vveie 
 iinr'ly and satisractoriiy adjusted, is mainly attribuLable to the prudent tact, 
 the cool judgement, and the enlightened exertions of Judge White. His va- 
 rious reports and speeches on ttie subject, preserved in the archives of the 
 country, w'.il eve • remain enduring monuments of his fame. 
 
 Judc!;e White did nolo.\en engage in the debates of the Senate, on subjects 
 not embraced wit! 'n 'le ?pbere"of his special duties. But when he did so, it 
 was alwa^^s with eflec . lie invariably advanced new arguments, or present- 
 ed old ones in a stronger point of view. In his manner, he was earnest, 
 d'^rnified, and 'mposing;— in his diction, clear, nervous, and unadorned; — in his 
 illustrations, striking, pertinent, and practical. An engaging candor, an in- 
 genuous simplicitv, shona conspicuously in all his parliamentary effusions. — 
 His though s' were arranged with method and exactness, and came forth each 
 in its appropriite place. He was rather distinguished for justness of views, 
 and strength of judgment, and cogency of reasoning, than for those brilliant 
 intellectual flashes which sometimes dazzle and bewilder, more than they en- 
 lighten and mstruct. His mind may be said to have been eminently vertical; 
 shining on each side of a subject with equal ray, and casting no shadow^s in 
 which Error might nesLle undiscovered. 
 
 The politics of Jud^a White were decidedly Republican. He had imbibed 
 them in their puri; ^and at their source, in tiie great school of '98. He em- 
 braced tiiem 'li the'sincerity, and adhered to them with the constancy, which 
 belonged to his character. Be '-as strict in ihe rules of construction which 
 he applied to the federal consti vv'on, and jealous of the encroachments of the 
 general n;overnment o.i :he reserved rights of the states. Inimical to the in- 
 crease oi executive Dower,and opposed to the extension of executive patron- 
 age, he was uniform in 'Me suopo -t of measures designed to restrain the excess- 
 es of ihe one, and lop the exci e.;cences of the other. He was the advocate of a 
 cheao and simple gove.nraent, moderate in its revenues, economical in its ex- 
 pend'tures, & stern in i:3 enforcement of accountability on disbursing oflicers. 
 He was opposed to the remova'., by the president, of competent & faithful public 
 agents, foVnon-confo.raitv, on tfielr part, with his peculiar views of policy. 
 At the same time, he thought it the duty of the latter to abstain from active 
 interference in eledions, involving the continuance in power of the adminis- 
 tration for the time being. The r-nt of instruction, he acknowledged to be 
 an essential element of constituent poNver. It was not in him a cold and life- 
 less abstraction, bat a warm and active energy, informing and regulating hIS' 
 official conduct. Conformity with the will of his constituents, when com 
 patlble with principle, was the first wish of his heart—their approbation the 
 highest reward o' his amo'tion. 
 
 As a poUtician his character is a model for imitation. A beautiful consis- 
 tency reigns through all its part's. Slow in forming his opinions, he avowed 
 them openly, and adhered to ihem with manly firmness. He was as cautious 
 and circumspect in action, as he was candid and sincere in profession. He 
 disdained that ambiguity in expression, and that shuflling duplicity in conduct' 
 wiiich "keep the word of promise to the ear, and break it to the sense." His 
 reliability, therefore was perfect— his position definite and unequivocal to 
 friend and foe. Conscientiousriess was ingrained into the very essence of his 
 moral being. No functionary ever construed the duties and obligations of 
 his station niore liberally in favor of the public, or more strictly against him- 
 
 
scir. Nor was he less deficient ia the stern virtue of fortitude. liii niiml 
 Avas under that thorough discipline that he could control its wildest moods, 
 and direct his thoughts, with resistless power, into the channel of his will.— 
 One instance of this powerful self-control, allow me to relate. On the morning 
 of the day on which, by the special assignment of his friends, he w-as to de- 
 fend an important measure then pending in the Senate, and which imperative- 
 ly enjoined immediate action, he received information of the death of a fa- 
 vorite daughter, almost the sole relict of a numerous progeny. One brief 
 hour, he devoted to the indulgence of his agonized feelings. Then merging 
 the father in the Patriot, and endueing his soul in that armour of fortitude 
 which sorrow had rendered so woefully familiar, he made one of his ablest 
 and most successful parliamentary eflbrts. 
 
 The harmony of opinion on political subjects which so long existed between 
 the people of Tennessee and himself, constituted the felicity of his laborious, 
 extended, and useful career. And when that harmony was apparently inter- 
 rupted — when a body, intermediate between him and the people, unexpec- 
 tedly, I am sure, to the latter, passed resolutions of instruction to which he 
 could not conform, without a sacrifice of self respect, and an abandonment of 
 long cherished opinions, he resigned, in a manner at once touching and august, 
 the high trust committed to his'charge, and retired forever, as he but too truly 
 predicted, from the councils of his country. The circumstances attending and 
 following that resignation; the solemn stillness that reigned on the crowded 
 floor, and in the thronged galleries, of the Senate; the breathless attention 
 with which the rapt auditory hung listening on his lips; the mingled emotions 
 of admiration and regret which heaved the universal heart when his last dying 
 accents trembled into silence, a silence never more by him to be awakened 
 within those walls, these aflecting details of the exit from public life of one of 
 its brightest ornaments, have all been spread before the country. The letter 
 which accompanied the act of resignation, is likewise before you; and its pro- 
 found views, and irreffutable principles, and momentous truths, are engraved 
 on your minds, I trust, in characters coexistent with the tablets on which 
 they are inscribed. 
 
 The standmg of Judge White with the Senate, without respect to parly 
 distinctions, was enviably and deservedly high. His correct deportment, and 
 gentlemanly bearing, and courtesy of manners, and kindness of heart, had 
 as much endeared him to its members in his character of man, as his prac- 
 tical business habits, his intimate knowledge of aflairs, his ripened judgement 
 and enlarged experience, had recommended him as a statesman. A practi- 
 cal evidence of this high appreciation, is to be found in the unanimity with 
 which he was advanced to the presidency of the Senate, when vacated by 
 Mr. Calhoun; the duties of which station he discharged with an ability, a dig- 
 nity, and an impartiality, which placed him, if possible,5on ground still more 
 elevated. And it is doubtless true, as was said by him on a festival occasion, 
 gotten up in his honor, and attended by the most distinguished men of our 
 country, that if the question of his continuance in office, had been submitted 
 to the decision of his political opponents in that body, it would have been 
 carried in the affirmative by acclamation. 
 
 It was my fortune to have formed one of a mess with Judge White, during 
 several sessions of Congress. There are recollections, connected with the as- 
 sociation, to which I cannot but recur with melancholy pleasure. The fig- 
 ures of others, too, grow into definite proportions on the canvass. There was 
 a young Virginian, whose rising reputation. Fame was, even then, proclaim- 
 
10 
 
 jng with ti-umpet tones. On an inspection, the most casual, of his head and 
 face, the Phrenologist and the Physiognomist, would, alike, liave pronounced 
 him a decided character. Both were large, strongly marked, and well defined. 
 His forehead broadening from his temples upwards, his mouth expressive of 
 energy and decision, ids eye full of vivacity and fire. His good nature was 
 invariable, his simplicity of manners child-like. His conversation agreeable, 
 perennial, and sparkling. At the social board, in his hours of relaxation from 
 intense study, his animal spirits, as if impatient ot previous restraint, would 
 explode in joyous bursts of merriment, — break forth in frolicksome gambols. 
 There, likewise, was a youthful Tennesseean, of graceful figure, and com- 
 manding aspect; of lion heart, and eagle eye. His every limb and feature in-| 
 stinct with native courtesy. His flexible countenance varying with each im- ' 
 pulse ol his mind. His keen perception of the ridiculous; his ringing laugh,,: 
 and catching mirth; his fund of humor, and power of anecdote; his natural;! 
 delivery so admirably suiting the action to the word, made him the delightt! 
 of his associates, and often 'set the table in a roar.' Of political life, these! 
 two were not inaptly termed the Siamese twins. Here, however, I speak : 
 not of them in their public relations, but only as cherished members of our I 
 mess. There were, besides, men of worth and intelligence, and distinguish- 
 ing excellencies of character, whose social qualities contributed to enliven' 
 and adorn our little circle. And there were others, of a different sex, whose! 
 retiring natures might shrink, with instinctive delicacy, from public notice. — 
 Their forms occupy a select position on my canvass, but their disnnctive fea- 
 tures, I may not portray. 
 
 In the centre of this circle, holding it together by his attractive power, 
 might be seen the venerable form, and patriarchal face, of Hugh L. White. 
 His dignity blended with mildness, served not so much to check, as to restrain 
 within legitimate bounds, the flow of our festivity. His Legislative duties! 
 over, he loved to unbend himself in the social intercourse of the parlor. No 
 )nan brought to our evening reunions a stronger disposition to please, and to 
 be pleased: none contributed more fully to the genial current of discourse. 
 Unaffectedly polite, he evinced in his manners that uniform good breeding, 
 which may be polished, indeed, by conventional forms, but which has its 
 source in native goodness of heart. Hence the rare quality which he pos- 
 sessed, of listening with attention to the remarks of others, however 
 little recommended by intrinsic interest. Possessing an innate modesty of 
 disposition, he was by no means ambitious of leading in discourse, or of sug- 
 gesting its topics. He never sought to engross the conversation, as men dis- 
 tinguished rather than truly distinguishable often do, by loudness of tone, or 
 perseverance in colloquial efibrt. He was one of the most unassuming of 
 men: never exacting observances from others; never presuming on his age, sta- 
 tion or reputation; never attempting to enforce his own convictions by impor- 
 timity or dictation. To bear and to forbear, were the guiding principles of 
 his conduct. His colloquial powers were of a high order — his conversation 
 as instructive as it was entertaining. It abounded in striking views, and sa- 
 gacious reflections on men and things — on the motives of human action, and 
 the conduct of human affaiis. These hoarded treasures of wisdom and cxpe- 
 lience, he would pour forth in a copious stream of unpremeditated language, 
 and, a)iparently, with the most perfect unconsciousness of the depth of the 
 soin'ces whence they proceeded. 
 
 , When I recall the scenes — with all their dependant throng of associations — 
 whose outline? I have thus endeavored to depict: when I reflect on the sepa- 
 
u 
 
 ration, final, and beyond the power of rcassennblaiie on earth, ot tlie actorsin 
 them, which a few briet" years have ellbcted; that tour of them can no more 
 be numbered amoijfr the livinc; that of tliose still exi.stino', no two of liiem 
 remain together, but are scattered hundreds of miles apart, over the wide 
 extent of our country, "it raises a whirlwind of emotions in my breast, whicli 
 only he who rides upon the whirlwind can give utterance to express." It for- 
 cibly reminds me of those trite maxims, trite because they are true, and be- 
 cause forced upon us by daily observation, which inculcate the fugitive and 
 transitory nature of ten)poral affairs — which teach that life, with little of 
 the splendor, has all the vicissitudes of the Kaleidoscope revolving between 
 the orbs of vision and of light. 
 
 '^Between two worlda life hovers like a slur, 
 'Twixt night and morn, on the horizon's verge; 
 I How little do we know what things we arc! 
 How less what we may be! The eternal surge 
 Of time and tide rolls on, and boare afar 
 Our Dubbles; as tlie old break, new emerge 
 Lathed from the foam of ages. While tlio graves 
 Of Empire heave but as some passing waves." 
 
 It will be recollected that about the time of which I liave been speaking, the 
 name of Judge VV"hite was before the American people for the chief magistra- 
 cy of the Union. It had been phiced in that position without any, even the 
 most remote, agency an his part: and conforming to the maxim which had reg- 
 ulated his whole public life, he did not feel himself authorized, under the cir- 
 cumstances, to withhold its use. As a politician, it was emjihatically true of 
 him, that "all the ends hs aimed at were his country's," and it was not lor 
 him to indicate the station in which his talents might be most usefully exerted. 
 His name being thus inseparably interwoven with great issues, involving so 
 deeply nis own personal prospects, and most cherished principles, it is natu- 
 ral to suppose that he could not have been indifierent to the result — that the 
 feelings of the man, and the patriotism of the statesman, must have been 
 strongly aroused. Yet he made, or authorized to be made, no overtures i'or 
 coalition, with parties hitherto holding adverse relations towards him. He 
 .stipulated for a compromise with no antagonist principles or pretensions. He 
 condescended to no degrading compliances, no obsequious observances, to soft- 
 en the opposition, or conciliate the support of previous political i'riends. For 
 the motives which should govern their course, he remitted them all to the tri- 
 bunal of conscience — to their own unbiassed sense of what was due to the 
 country and its-institutions. No instance is recollected, of his introducing 
 in conversation the subject of the election, or of his indulging in specula- 
 tions of its progress and probable result. He seemed to consider the contest 
 as alien to himself, and with patient equanimity, referred its decision to the 
 free choice of his fellow citizens at large. Evincing, throughout, an abne- 
 gation of self, as rare and difficult in point of practice, as ii is elevated and 
 sublime in point of principle. 
 
 Had it been his destiny to have filled the Presidential chair, to which, but for 
 the unlooked for exertion of powerful extraneous influenceshe would probai)ly 
 have attained, he might not have sought to render liis administration illustri- 
 ous, by innovations introduced; by institutions overthrown; by experiments 
 boldly, rather than wisely, hazarded; but he would have discharged its duties 
 in the spirit which presided over the institution of the executive department. 
 Moderation and wisdom would have reigned in his councils. Method, & iidel- 
 ity, and industry been introduced into the administration ofalfaiis: And tiie 
 jirosperity of the country placed£on the firm foundation of order & the Laws, 
 
12 
 
 The predoiiiinanl feature of Judge While's mind was his sound, strong prac- 
 tical judgement. Good sense, like an artery, ramilied his entire intellectual 
 conformation, and richly imbued all the works of his hands, and the produc- 
 tions of his mind. This quality, though not so dazzling to the observer — not 
 so lightning-like in its manifestations, as that other quality called genius, is 
 infinitely more conservative in its tendencies and effects. Genius may im- 
 mortalize an individual, but good sense conduces to the safety of nations.— 
 The one may reflect glory upon Empire, but the other can alone ensure iis 
 repose and its duration. Good sense is philanthropic in its feelings, beneficent 
 in its actions, disinterested in it? exertions, national in its objects of pursuit, 
 and bases its fame on the stable foundations of the public prosperity. Genius 
 is selfish in its aims, insatiable in its attainments, and despotic in its exactions. 
 Its wrongs and enmities, are the wrongs and enmities of the State. In 
 its own estimation, it is the State itself. To gratify the predominant pas- 
 sion for the time being, it dissolves old friendships, coalesces with ancient 
 enmities, and tramples under foot, facts, and principles, and institutions, with- 
 out hesitation, and without remorse. Genius is electricity darting from the 
 clouds, and pulverizing every opposing obstacle. Good sense is a kindred fluid, 
 conveying intelligence along the electric wire, breathing galvanic life into 
 exanimate forms, and guiding commerce, with magnetic influence, across 
 the watery waste. Good sense is a placid stream, never stagnant, seldom 
 overflowing its banks, (and then for purposes of irrigation only,) and 
 winding its way through a smiling champaigne country. Its waters are "pop- 
 ulous with gliding life," and the cheerful green along its margin speaks elo- 
 quently of its vivifying a,§-encies. Genius is a mountain torrent, dnshing/over 
 abrupt precipices, seething in abysmal depths, and ploughing its frantic way 
 through chasms %vhich it finds or makes. Its cataracts, indeed, are arched 
 with rainbow hues, and its thunders retorted from a thousand caves: but it 
 carries desolation to the plains. Good sense is the 'liquid blessing,' descending 
 in gentle dews, and refreshing showers. Genius the same element co??^e«/edf/ 
 Beside some Alpine height, it presents a magnificent spectacle. It is seen 
 tVom afar. Rumor reports of its sheen to distant lands. It is gilded with the 
 first l)eams of the morning. The last fond rays of expiring day linger around 
 its summit. A breath, however, disturbs its seeming deep repose, its haugh- 
 ty crest is ruffled with the least vibrations of the surrounding atmosphere. — 
 And rousing from its inaction, and grasping its glittering terrors, it starts into 
 tfie avc.lanche! It thunders "with hideous ruin and combustion down," down 
 into the vale below; whelming and crushing, in its destructive course, rocks, 
 and woods, and hamlets, and villages — the lowly structures of human hands, 
 and the organic altitudes of nature. 
 
 Returning from this digression, which I trust will not be considered inap- 
 propriate, I renew 'my sketches, faint and feeble though they be, of the life 
 and character of our departed friend. He was eminently endowed, by na- 
 ture, with those tender sensibilities, those amiable qualities of heart and head, 
 which adapt our natures to the endeariii'T associations of domestic life. His 
 li;tp[)iness was broken in upon, however, and liis household ])rospects darken- 
 ed, by tlie repeated visitations of death. One l)y one, in quick succession, in 
 ilic bloom of youthful loveliness, in ilie promise of opening manhood, eight 
 sons and daughters out of a family of ten, and the dear partner of his bosom 
 who h;ul presented them to him as pledges of their mutual love, fell bet'ore the 
 destroying augel. 'J'he labors of his public life, contributed, doubtless, to al- 
 leviate the sorro^ys thus occasioned. Tiiey necessarily withdrew him, for a 
 
13 
 
 time, from the vicinity of the objects that recalled them. But, when releas- 
 ed, by the adjournment of Congress, from his winter residence at Washing- 
 ton, he returned to his now desolate habitation, and saw the inHuence uf 
 Spring's reviving presence in the vegetable world around; when he beheld Ikt 
 pomp of groves, and garniture of fields — her llowers all iresh with childhood, 
 himself childless; her newly awakened birds, "innocently opening their glad 
 wings, fearless and full of life," and caroling "their notes more sweet than 
 Avords," it is natural to suppose that in the anguish of his heart, "i>e turned 
 from all she brought, to those she could not bring!" Time, "the comforter, 
 and lenient healer when the heart hath bled," and perhaps other consolations 
 which we know not of, coming from him who tempers the wind to the shorn 
 lamb, gradually restored him to his wonted cheerfulness. Other lies were 
 formed, which contributed much to the solace of his declinintr aije. After the 
 lapse of a few revolving years, those ties, too, are broken, and m another bo- 
 som, in the bosom of his lonely and desolate consort, his second love, are re- 
 newed those pangs of survivorship, which had, so often, and so torluringly 
 wrung his own. 
 
 The social relations of Judge White with the community in which he lived, 
 were friendl)', amiable, and engaging. His easiness of access, and cordiality of 
 manner, and kindliness of feeling, and fullness of philanthropy, justly endear- 
 ed him to his neighbors, and imparted a character of relationsliip, to his most 
 casual and transient associations. The same order, and me'hod, and exactness 
 reigned in his private transactions, which he carried into the administration 
 of public aftairs. Simple in his habits, and temperate in his diet, like the pen- 
 sionary De Wit, he was careful of his health, and, when necessary, prodigal of 
 his life. He was, likewise, in thorough possession of the secret, aod practised 
 upon it, too, on occasion, which enabled that great statesman to transact snch 
 an incredible amount, and variety, of business, viz: simply by doing one thing 
 at a time. By reflection rather than from impulse, he was economical in his 
 expenses, and unostentatious in his mode of living: yet his economy was as 
 remote from avarice as from meanness. Charitable without ostentation, his 
 alms were bestowed in the secrecy enjoined by Holy Writ, and on objects se- 
 lected with discrimination. Long and extensive as had been his practice at 
 the bar, he never coerced in a single instance, by legal process, the payment of 
 his professional dues. Being informed, on one occasion, that he could secure 
 a lee of one thousand dollars, by the timely institution of a suit, he referred 
 to his invariable rule of action in like cases, and remarked that he was then 
 too old to adopt new practices. Regular in his attendance on religious wor- 
 ship, he a.cted out in his conduct, rather than professed with his lips, the pre- 
 cepts and observances of the Gospel. Prudent in the management of nis af- 
 lairs, he was punctual in the nayment of his debts; indeed, it may be said of 
 him, I am informed, that he created no debts; complying with his ccmtracts, 
 and meeting hjs engagements, before they could lairly be said to have assumed 
 that form. In this regard, he evinced his friendship for mechanics, and ven- 
 dors of commodities in general, practically, and in a manner most profitable 
 and acceptable to them. Of great sagacity and forecast, he never sacrificed 
 future prospects to present gratifications; a quality more valuable than the pat- 
 rimonial inheritance of thousands. Warm and constant in his friendships, it 
 must be admitted, that he was strong and bitter in his enmities; especially 
 when the latter were connected with the idea of uuworthiness in their ob- 
 jects. Yet no man was more tolerant of opposition, when conducted with 
 Kianly fairness, and woged with the weapons of legitimate warfare, llis re-r 
 
. 14 
 
 lationswjili tho community in wliii^li he lived were truly patriarchal. JSuch 
 was the confidence reposed in his character, personal and political, that, 
 ^vhilst in the one, his word xvas as the bond of other men, his approbation in 
 the other generally stamped an opinion as orthodox. To sum up his character 
 ill brief", he was an honest man, an invaluable citizen, an enlightened jurist, a 
 pure patriot, a wise statesman, and altogether one of the most useful public 
 servants of the age in which he lived. 
 
 This great and good man expired at his residence near Knoxville, on the 
 lOlh of April last in the GSth year of his age. His constitution, for several 
 years, had been gradually yielding to tlje decays of time. But his end was 
 probably hastened by tlie fatigue and exposure incident to his homeward jour- 
 ney, for the most part over bleak and elevated mountains, undertaken against 
 the remonstrances of his friends, and accomplished during the most inclement 
 season of the year. His strength and spirits are said, however, lo have ral- 
 lied somewhat, on his entrance into Tennessee. I'he evidences of attach- 
 ment, deepened rather than diminished, which, with one or two disgusting 
 exceptions, every where greeted his onward progress — the sound of cannon, 
 reverberating an)ong the iiills, and thundering "deep-mouthed welcome as he 
 /Jrew near home," could not but fmd responsive echoes in a bosom, which next 
 to its own inward sense of rectitude, coveted above all things earthly, the 
 public approbation. Shoi'tly after his return, however, syn)ptoms of ap- 
 ■jiroaching dissolution were discerned. And, in a few brief weeks, his noble 
 neart, one of the noblest that ever beat in a human bosom, was stilled forev- 
 .er! Would that he could have lived a little longer! Would that he could 
 have headed the movement which, even now, is accomplishing the political 
 retrencration of Tennessee! That he could have survived the coming of that 
 event, which, to his fading vision, had already "cast its shadows betore," and 
 which would have furnished indisputable evidence, that, in his virtual expul- 
 sion from the Senate, the wishes and sentiments of her citizens had been pal- 
 pably misinterpieted! But this, it seems, was not reserved for him! Anoth- 
 er of the innumerable evidences, spread all over the history of the past, that 
 retributive justice belongs not to the dispensations of time — that earthly fame 
 is fortune's frail dependant! 
 
 Yet there lives. 
 A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, gives; 
 I'o wliose all pondeiin^ mind, a noble aim 
 Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed!" 
 
 Since death is inevitable by human care or skill, the departure of our ven- 
 €ral)le and venerated friend, is attended with circumstances of mitigation, 
 whicli temper our sorrow lor his loss. He had almost accomplished his allot- 
 ted span of life — his three score years and ten were nearly completed. Ashe 
 was lull of years, so was he full of honors. The path of his progress through 
 life, was strewed with the evidences of his usefulness. To those who come 
 after him, he has left an example, which, pondered littingly, is fruitful of in- 
 struction and altogether woriliy of imitation. It is, indeed, an invaluable 
 legacy to his country at large. It should especially be cherished by Tennes- 
 see; for he loved her well! His attachment for the union was a sentiment; a 
 strong one, it is true, and founded on reilection of its benefits, and of the evils 
 inevitably consequent on a disruption of its ties; yet still a sentiment only. 
 But towards Tennessee, it was a. passion. He loved her with a love deep, 
 .strong, passionate, and abiding. His heart was bound to her by ties which 
 death only could dissolve, it was the chosen home of his adoption. It was 
 consecrated by al! those recollections which crowd and cluster around the do- 
 
15 
 
 niestic fireside, h was tlie sccno. of his filial Iovo<; iiis tVatrrnal airections; his 
 connubial felicities; his pai'cntal lu)pes, and joys. The bones ol' most of the 
 loved objects, who stood towards Jiiin in the near and (ioar relations adverted 
 to, lay mouldering beneath her soil. Tennessee, likewise, had treated him 
 with the atlection of a mother. She had smiled ujion his opening manhood; 
 advanced him in his riper }ears; sustained him in his dociining age. Unasked, 
 she had lavished upon him, all the honors within her gift. She would have el- 
 evated him to the highest within the gift of the nation. Well might a mutual 
 love exist between them! 
 
 He is dead! but to the truly good man, death has no terrors. Exempted 
 from all fears, whether of Time, or of Eternity, he looks back, without re- 
 morse, upon the irreversible past, and forward, without apprehension, into the 
 inevitable future. 
 
 ''Hope with her epirc 
 Star-high, and pointing still to something higher," 
 
 attends upon his death-bed. Such,4et us trust, were the closing thoughts, and 
 such the opening prospects, of our departed friend. Peace be to his re- 
 mains! Consecrated and holy, the earth that encloses them. Green be the 
 sdd upon its surface! May the star-light dews distil upon it their selectest in- 
 fluences. May those prolific principles, those mysterious agencies, yet undi- 
 vulged of science, which minister to vegetable life, imbue it with their choi- 
 cest, their most verdant hues! And, at the Last Day, when his resuscitated 
 body shall have flown to a reunion with the soul from which it was disjoined, 
 may the incarnate spirit, purified from. the corruptions of humanity, be reman- 
 ded to a station on the right hand of the Majesty on High! 
 

 
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