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EUiOGIUM 
 
 JOSEPH R;EEJ) INGERSOLL, 
 
 f 
 -DAVID PA-tJL SHOWN 
 
 Septet/ib d- 28, 1S09. 
 
 
' k. 
 
 % 
 
 J* 
 
EULOGIUM 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 HON. JOSEPH REED INGERSOLL 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVID PAUL BROWN. 
 
 Delivered Sept. 28, 1869. 
 
 AT THE HALL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Published in Pursuance of a Resolution of the Society. 
 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 COLLINS, PRINTER, 105 JAYNE STREET. 
 
 1869. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 
 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, desirous to honor 
 the memory of its late President, Hon. Joseph Reed In- 
 GERSOLL, adopted a resolution inviting David Paul Brown, 
 Esq., to deliver an address commemorative of his life and 
 diameter. 
 
 Mr. BROWN, having accepted the duty to which he wns 
 thus invited, delivered the following Eulogium in the Hall 
 of the University of Pennsylvania, on the evening of the 
 28th of September, 1869. 
 
 The Hall was filled with a large audience, composed of 
 eminent citizens of Philadelphia. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
 Philadelphia, March 24, 18G9. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Council of the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania, held on the 22d inst., a resolution was adopted inviting you 
 to deliver before the Society, a eulogium upon the life and character of 
 our late President, Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll. 
 
 In communicating this resolution to you, I express the earnest hope 
 and desire of the Society that it may suit your views and convenience to 
 comply with this request. 
 
 The time for its delivery is left entirely to your option and convenience. 
 With the highest respect, 
 
 I have the honor to be 
 
 Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, 
 
 Chairman Executive Council. 
 David Paul Brown, Esq., Philadelphia. 
 
 No. 1113 Girard Street, 
 Philadelphia, March 26, 1869. 
 To JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, Esq., 
 
 Corresponding Secretary of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 I have received your letter in behalf of the Historical Society an- 
 nouncing my appointment to deliver a eulogy upon the life and character 
 of the Honorable Joseph Reed Ingersoll, the late President of the Society, 
 and also expressing a hope that I might comply with their request. In 
 answer to this invitation, allow me to say, that I can refuse nothing that is 
 intended to do honor to the memory of my departed and lamented friend, 
 and that the only hesitation I feel in assuming this grateful task, arises 
 from the consciousness of my inadequacy to do justice to the exalted merits 
 of the subject. Diffidence, however, upon such an occasion, must give 
 place to sympathetic duty, and I therefore not only willingly, but grate- 
 fully accept the appointment. 
 
 With great regard, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 DAVID PAUL BROWN. 
 
Historical Society op Pennsylvania, 
 Philadelphia, October 6, 1869. 
 To DAVID PAUL BROWN, Esq. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the large and intelligent 
 audience present, listened with the liveliest satisfaction and gratification to 
 your eloquent eulogium on the life and character of Mr. Ingersoll. 
 
 At the close of the exercises, the resolutions were adopted which I have 
 the honor herewith to send you, and in doing so I beg to express the hope 
 that you will comply with the request therein presented. 
 
 The publication of such an address is, in many respects, greatly to be 
 desired ; more especially as examples of lives and characters, such as was 
 exhibited in the career of our late President, so happily and appropriately 
 delineated by you, are proper studies for the imitations of our people, and 
 for the elevation of the moral and intellectual condition of our country. 
 I am, dear sir, with the highest respect, 
 
 Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 JAMES EOSS SNOWDEN, 
 Corresponding Secretary His. So. of Penna. 
 
 Philadelphia, October 6, 1869. 
 To Hon. JAMES ROSS SNOWDEN, 
 
 Corresponding Secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have just received your kind letter in behalf of the Historical So- 
 ciety of Pennsylvania, requesting a copy of the eulogy pronounced by me 
 upon the life and Character of the Hon. Joseph Heed Ingersoll, the late 
 President of the Society, and my life-long friend. The eulogy is entirely 
 :M your service, accompanied, however, with the sincere regret that it is 
 not more worthy of Ike Buhject, and of the distinguished audience before 
 
 Which it was delivered. 
 
 Ar.epi my thank- for the Society, and for yourself my lasting and affec- 
 tionate regard. „„ 
 
 DAV1I> PAUL lUiOW V 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE, ESQ., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
 
 ^Ve are assembled this evening in pursuance of 
 an invitation from the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania. As there must be many persons in this large 
 assembly who are not members of that association, I 
 may take leave, perhaps, to state that the Society 
 was founded in the year 1824, and that its object is 
 the collection, preservation, arrangement, and publi- 
 cation of such historical things as contribute to the 
 truth of history and add to the dignity and honor of 
 our city, State and nation. Although the corporation 
 has never been in any way publicly endowed, it has 
 now existed for nearly half a century, and has become, 
 in fact, a stable institution of the State. Indeed, it 
 has so increased, of late, in capacities of usefulness, 
 that it not long since issued a circular giving to its 
 members information of some particulars of its con- 
 dition. From this, corrected up to the present day, 
 
6 
 
 we learn that it has a library of historical works, 
 numbering about 17,000 books, and of pamphlets full 
 80,000. In the department of pamphlets, indeed, 
 which embraces the invaluable collection recently 
 bequeathed to us by our fellow-member, Mr. G. W. 
 Fahnestock, the Society is singularly rifch. It pos- 
 sesses also a considerable museum, constantly aug- 
 menting by gifts, in which are preserved many 
 curious relics of Washington, Penn, and others, illus- 
 trious in our civic and social annals ; and a gallery 
 of portraits embracing many of our revolutionary 
 officers, and of our early governors and statesmen 
 and men of letters. We have a fund now amounting 
 to $16,000 for the publication of manuscripts, and by 
 means of this four large and elegant volumes have 
 been already printed. The president here exhibited 
 one of these handsome works, remarking upon the 
 interesting value of its contents. The publication of 
 another is now completed. We have, too, a building 
 fund now amounting to $12,000, mid which interest 
 and contributions are increasing. It is the hope of 
 the Society before many years to be able to erect an 
 edifice worthy of the city in which its treasures may 
 be conveniently arranged and properly exhibited, and 
 where they may be beyond the ordinary risks of fire. 
 In the mean time, its ball is in the upper floor of the 
 A-thenseum Building in Sixth Street. Should any of 
 vow. noi members of the Society, feel disposed to visit 
 il. in behalf of the body I cordially invite you to do so. 
 Our worthy and courteous Librarian, the Rev. Dr. 
 
Shrigley, will be happy, I am sure, to welcome any of 
 you and to show to you whatever among- our trea- 
 sures it may most interest you to see. 
 
 To proceed to the more immediate subject which 
 engages us this evening- ; — 
 
 The Soci-ety is assembled to-night, and has done 
 itself the honor to invite hither those of you who are 
 not of its members, in order to commemorate the vir- 
 tues and services of its late President, the Honorable 
 Joseph Reed Ingersoll, a gentleman who, born on 
 this soil, and living for more than eighty years among 
 this people, touched this community at so man}' points 
 — professionally as a much admired advocate at our 
 bar — politically, as a representative from this city in 
 Congress, and afterwards as the representative of the 
 nation abroad — in the religious aspect, as a frequent 
 participant in the councils of the church of which he 
 was a member — and socially, and in civic relations, as 
 a hospitable and liberally minded gentleman, open 
 and of access easy to all — that there can be but few 
 present, I should suppose, if of mature years at all, 
 avIio had not some acquaintance with him, either 
 through the pleasure of personal intercourse, or by his 
 good fame and his good deeds ; and none who, having 
 known him, will not readily understand why the His- 
 torical Society, of which he was long the President 
 and benefactor, should now, on his death, desire to 
 pay to his memory a mark of its respect. 
 
 Scarcely less known in this community than was 
 Mr. Ingersoll himself is the gentleman to whom we 
 
8 
 
 shall be indebted for a discourse commemorative of 
 him. I feel that on this occasion, I need not intro- 
 duce the orator. For when before my fellow-citizens 
 of Philadelphia, I pronounce the name of David 
 Paul Browx, I pronounce a name as familiar to the 
 most of them as that of the honored city in which 
 they live. 
 
 Mr. Brown now came forward and delivered a 
 eulogy, as follows : — 
 
 
EULOGY. 
 
 Mr. President : 
 
 Members of the Historical Society : 
 
 Ladies axd Gextlemex: — 
 
 It is a great honor — if, while our thoughts are 
 resting upon the grave, we may be permitted to 
 speak of worldly honors — it is indeed a great honor, 
 thus to be invited, or even allowed, to address so 
 large, so learned, so distinguished, and so brilliant 
 an assemblage, upon this mournful, though grateful 
 occasion. But while entering upon my duty in re- 
 gard to these sad designs, I trust with becoming diffi- 
 dence, I have still no apologies to make. I should 
 be ashamed to mingle deliberate, premeditated, and 
 cold-blooded excuses, with a tribute to the cherished 
 memory of a lamented and departed friexd. This 
 is a duty of Love, and duties assumed are duties to be 
 discharged. If the task be faithfully performed apolo- 
 gies are unnecessary; if, unhappily, it should mil, 
 they would serve only to increase the delinquency. 
 I therefore proceed at once to the humble fulfilment 
 of my allotted task ; a task not only impressive to 
 myself, but impressive to the entire community, who 
 
10 
 
 sympathize, and suffer in that bereavement, which 
 we must all naturally and deeply deplore, in the loss 
 of an aged and most distinguished fellow-citizen, an 
 accomplished scholar, a public benefactor, and above 
 all, and embracing all, an exemplary and devout 
 Christian. If affection could supply the ability for 
 such a theme, I might hope to transfuse into your 
 hearts the sorrows of my own. But, alas ! it too often 
 happens that the depth of our emotions impairs their 
 adequate expression. Language is too weak and 
 cold to portray, truly, the emotions of the soul. 
 These can be only felt, and known, in the communion 
 of the heart with itself. Still, that which is impos- 
 sible may at least be honestly attempted, and the 
 failure even pardoned, from the merit and sincerity of 
 the motive. 
 
 The memorials and examples of illustrious men, 
 who, after a long life of labor and deserved distinc- 
 tion, have in the fulness of time, like the sun show- 
 Iii*»- their greatest countenance in their lowest estate, 
 sunk into the grave, life's dark and inevitable hori- 
 zon, are always appropriate and salutary lessons to 
 those who shall survive. And there is, therefore, a 
 peculiar propriety in this duty being assumed upon 
 the present occasion by the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Engersoll was the President of this Institution, 
 ;i native of the State and an honor to the State. His 
 name well deserves to be historical. He was the 
 Cicero of the American liar, and he maybe truly 
 
11 
 
 said to be one of Plutarch's men, nay, if I have read 
 his annals rightly, one of the noblest of them. 
 
 To commemorate such a man is not so essential to 
 the preservation of his fame, as to that of those who 
 have enjoyed the benefit of his magnanimous ex- 
 ample ; and in whom a want of desert might be fairly 
 inferred, from an omission to express their gratitude 
 upon an occasion so peculiarly appropriate as the 
 present. 
 
 It is not to reward him, for if private and public 
 worth be an earnest of future bliss, he has already 
 received an unearthly reward in the bosom of his 
 Saviour. But it is to inculcate upon others the moral 
 beauty and value of his example, that we my fellow- 
 citizens, are now assembled. 
 
 The feelings and principles manifested by his 
 arduous public and professional career, while they 
 show how little remained to him for the enjoyment 
 of social and domestic peace, bear unequivocal evi- 
 dence of a head and heart replete with every moral 
 and intellectual refinement and excellence, that could 
 contribute to strengthen and improve those sacred 
 ties, which at the same time bind the virtuous to the 
 strict performance of their duties here, and the fulfil- 
 ment of the obligations which they owe to the great 
 hereafter. 
 
 It is unnecessary to attempt tracing the sympathies 
 of the human heart in their diversified exercise around 
 the family fireside, or throughout the extended 
 circle of tender relations and devoted friends. It is 
 
12 
 
 unnecessary to rend the veil from the kind commu- 
 nion of kindred spirits, and to calculate their vast 
 sum of human worth and enjoyment, by throwing 
 into the account the mutual courtesies, kindnesses, 
 and benefactions by which the wise and the virtuous 
 are ever united together. All these may readily 
 be inferred from the regular, uniform, and consistent 
 denotements of Christian charity and benevolence. 
 
 Men may, it is true, in all their familiar and 
 friendly intercourse faithfully perform every duty 
 incumbent upon them in those relations, because 
 character, interest, and duty all combine to produce 
 and promote that performance, yet, when these mo- 
 tives are wanting, the heart may be as cold and 
 cheerless as the mountain snow ! 
 
 When we bear in mind that temporal death is the 
 dark portal to Eternal Life, we should also remember, 
 as he remembered, that the best commemoration of 
 the beloved departed is that which relates, not merely 
 to this sublunary sphere of action, but to the consci- 
 entious discharge of his duties to his Saviour and to his 
 God. "While, therefore, we are not to disparage good 
 works, high moral tendencies, eminent, social or pro- 
 fessional accomplishments; which too often perhaps 
 form the subjects of inflated eulogy, we must re- 
 collect that in themselves, they arc comparatively 
 nothing. Without that supernatural influence aris- 
 ing from an humble and faithful devotion to the 
 Creator, what, alas! is mere morality, doing to your 
 neighbor as von would he done by. This i> at best 
 
13 
 
 but thrifty, frugal honesty. It is nothing for the 
 next world, unless you combine therewith a higher 
 and diviner duty, that of " loving the Almighty with 
 all your mind, with all your heart, and with all your 
 strength." The discharge of our obligations here 
 must be the effluence, or the reflex, of our duties to 
 Heaven, in order that we may secure an Eternal 
 reward. The debt due to Heaven is not satisfied by 
 the fulfilment of mere temporal, or conventional 
 responsibility. The Great Judge does not reward 
 our acts alone, he rewards the motive, the conscien- 
 tious and faithful discharge of our obligations to him. 
 That man is charitable, who even without the ability, 
 has still the desire to relieve the distresses, or pardon, 
 or excuse the faults of others ; while he may be utterly 
 destitute of charity, who, liberally and actually gives 
 or forgives, without a proper and pious sense of 
 Christian obligation. "We cannot draw upon the 
 treasury of Heaven to pay the contracts of the mere 
 world. " They are of the earth, earthy," and are 
 entitled to no credit upon the great and final book of 
 Judgment ! Nay, they may be even debited against 
 us, unless in their motives they represent a celestial 
 influence or agency. In all men do, and say, and 
 think, and suffer, they must recognize, as our departed 
 friend recognized, their liability to the great first 
 cause. In saying this, we must not be supposed to 
 undervalue the charms and blandishments of a sin- 
 cerely virtuous life; but Ave cannot overvalue a pious 
 Christian life. The former belongs often to the head ; 
 
14 
 
 the latter must belong- to the heart of man ; speaking 
 through divine influence, and for divine purposes. 
 Mere morality therefore is nothing in itself. Reli- 
 gion, it is true, cannot exist without morality ; but 
 what the world calls morality may exist without 
 religion. It is the mere body without the life or 
 spirit. It must be. the mind that makes that body 
 rich. 
 
 In approaching the discharge of my more immedi- 
 ate duty, permit me, now, almost without commen- 
 tary (for your reflections shall be the commentary), 
 incidentally, to refer to the pure and patriotic and 
 honored ancestry of my present subject. 
 
 Jared Ingersoll, the father of our lamented friend, 
 was born in the year seventeen hundred and forty- 
 nine, and died in eighteen hundred and twenty-two. 
 He graduated at Yale College in seventeen hundred 
 and sixty-six, and shortly after went to England, 
 where he entered the Middle Temple, and passed live 
 years in the study of the Law. Shortly after this 
 the Revolution broke out, and he at once attached 
 himself, though the son of a loyalist, to the cause of 
 the Colonies. From London he jessed to Paris, 
 where he remained two years; and finally returning 
 t<> 1 his country, took up his residence in Philadel- 
 phia, and occupied at once a prominent position as n 
 lawyer, lie became a member of the convention 
 which formed the United Static Constitution, pre- 
 sided over by Washington. He was afterwards ap- 
 
15 
 
 pointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania — subse- 
 quently United States District Attorney — and in 
 eighteen hundred and twelve was nominated as a 
 candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the United 
 States. At the time of his death, which took place 
 in 1822, he was President of the District Court of 
 the City and County of Philadelphia. 
 
 His eldest son, Charles Jared Ingersoll, a lawyer, 
 statesman, and author, was born October the third, 
 seventeen hundred and eighty-two: and after having 
 been admitted to practice before he came of age, tra- 
 velled in Europe, became attached to the American 
 Embassy in France, and made a European tour with 
 Rufus King, Minister of the United States. Return- 
 ing home in 1805, he entered upon the practice of his 
 profession. In 1812 he was elected to Congress. In 
 1811 he was again a candidate, but was defeated. In 
 1815 he was appointed by President Madison, United 
 States District Attorney, an office which he contin- 
 ued to hold until 1829. He was again elected to 
 Congress in 1840-42-44, and in 1847 was nominated 
 as Minister to France by President Polk, but the 
 nomination was not confirmed by the Senate. 
 
 Joseph R. Ingersoll was the son of Jared Inger- 
 soll and Elizabeth his wife; both of whom having 
 passed the allotted term of threescore years and ten, 
 were gathered to their fathers. And here, in passing, 
 we owe a just tribute to the unassuming virtues and 
 influences of maternal love, a matter always to be 
 considered, but too often forgotten or undervalued. 
 
16 
 
 It is useless to refer to the glorious proverbial exam- 
 ples of the mother of the Gracchi, or the mother of 
 Shakspeare, or of Sir "William Jones, or of Washing- 
 ton ; for I maintain that to maternal influence and 
 instruction we often owe more than even to those of 
 the father. The first lessons are the deepest, most 
 lasting, and most available. What is the harvest 
 without seed-time ; your culture without the soil ; 
 your building without the foundation? Many dis- 
 tinguished fathers have produced obscure sons, a 
 truly wise mother, almost never ! Circumstances 
 and casualties may affect or control this principle, 
 but it is still well-founded in nature and experience. 
 Unobtrusive female influences are often lost sight of; 
 yet, in estimating the value of a man's character, it 
 would be, in most cases, safer to inquire, who was his 
 mother, than who was his father. And we cannot 
 help thinking that when the elder Ingersoll wrote to 
 his son at Princeton, as he did, to remember the 
 " honors," he might as well have added, remember, 
 also, the precepts and injunctions of your mother. 
 It is obvious, however, that the subject of our present 
 notice enjoyed all the early and appropriate advan- 
 tages imparted by loth his parents. But it is not re- 
 quisite further to unfold the memorials of the ancestry 
 of the subject of this sketch: it is enough to say that 
 it was a good tree, that furnished good ami precious 
 fruit; as was amply manifested in the life, character, 
 ami death of our Lamented friend, to whose career 
 
17 
 
 our attention, and our reverential and affectionate 
 sympathies are this night to be devoted. 
 
 Joseph R. Ingersoll was born on the fourteenth 
 day of June, seventeen hundred and eighty-six, as 
 the father's record states, " on the rising of the sun." 
 After having read law with his father with great assi- 
 duity he was admitted to practice on the second day of 
 June, 1807, and died on the twentieth day of February, 
 eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, in the eighty-second 
 year of his age. Of some men this might be all that 
 the world would desire, or deserve, or expect to know. 
 Not so with the illustrious departed. He is gone, it 
 is true, but his memory should still survive as a 
 bright and lasting example, showing the height to 
 which a life of virtue raises mortal man. His worth 
 and his virtues were commensurate with his years. 
 He was a man of genial alacrity, of systematic and 
 untiring industry, of refined manners, of a frank 
 and urbane spirit, exemplary integrity, and a most 
 signal example of benevolence. Asa lawyer he com- 
 bined all the requirements of his diversified profes- 
 sion. He was thoroughly read in legal science, tho- 
 roughly skilled in its practice. Each one of these 
 qualifications contributed to brighten and improve, 
 the others, in the reflection of mutual and reciprocal 
 lio-ht, and like a glorious constellation, imparted 
 lustre to the entire profession. And in addition to 
 all, he possessed the power of a most persuasive elo- 
 2 
 
18 
 
 quence, which was never surpassed, if ever equalled, 
 at the American bar. 
 
 He was in truth a great orator. The fine arts, 
 polite literature, in short the Graces and the Muses 
 were all tributary to his formation and success. 
 They may all be won by labor, and without labor 
 they will assuredly all be lost. Incessant study 
 loses its fancied severity by being universal and 
 various. Mental exercise and mental enjoyment are 
 perfected by diffusion as well as by concentration, 
 and this remark is peculiarly appropriate to oratory. 
 The mind of the orator should be directed to history, 
 mathematics, metaphysics, poetry, music, painting-, 
 and sculpture, in order that he may comprehend 
 that intellectual relation, that secret charm in the 
 liberal professions which, connecting one with an- 
 other, combines the influence of all. Oratory is 
 distinguished, because it requires, implies, and im- 
 parts extensive knowledge. It is a mistake to 
 suppose that accomplishment in speech indicates a 
 want of accomplishment in thought; as, for instance, 
 that a great speaker cannot be a great statesman, a 
 great lawyer, or an eminent divine. Look at Pitt, 
 and silver-tongued Murray, were they not great states- 
 men ? Marshall, Pinkney, Webster, Brougham, Ers- 
 kine, and Dupin, were among the greatest lawyers of 
 their respective countries; yet their power of speech 
 secured them more lame, fortune, and promotion, than 
 Without it, all their law learning could have acquired. 
 
19 
 
 The advocate compared with a mere lawyer, is 
 " Hyperion to a Satyr." 
 
 After his admission Mr. Ingersoll soon found 
 himself in a large and active practice, and here, 
 although there is no occasion for professional anec- 
 dotes, yet you must allow me to introduce one as an 
 early characteristic of Mr. Ingersoll's ambition. 
 
 In the year 1810 he was inquired of by Mr. 
 William Lewis, one of the oldest and most distin- 
 guished lawyers of the bar, whether he would not 
 like to argue a case in the Supreme Court at Wash- 
 ington. This to an ambitious young man was a 
 tempting intimation, as it was calculated at once to 
 lay the foundation for professional eminence and 
 fortune. He therefore accepted the proffered em- 
 ployment. I think it was the case of Fitzimmons 
 and others against Ogden and others, reported in 
 7th Cranch. The case was a highly important 
 one, it was the first case on the list of the court, and 
 the term was to commence in three days. Mr. Lewis 
 gave him all the information he could, furnished the 
 notes of his argument, and, full of trepidation and 
 hope, he and his colleague proceeded to Washington. 
 The cause required months of preparation, but as he 
 had entered upon the task, there was no time to re- 
 tract. The counsel opposed were .Richard Stockton 
 and David B. Ogden, who were ready and eager for 
 the conflict. It so happened, however, that Chief 
 Justice Marshall, on his way from Richmond, met 
 with an accident which fractured his collar bone, and 
 
20 
 
 Judge Johnson, of South Carolina, was prevented 
 from attending court by sickness in his family. Of 
 course the court held no session, and the case was 
 postponed for a year ; at the expiration of which 
 time our young aspirant for professional fame was 
 abundantly prepared, argued his case with signal 
 ability, and with the entire approval of his learned 
 colleague and the court, and returned to the city, not 
 only decked out in " golden opinions," but bearing 
 in his purse a golden fee of one hundred guineas. 
 
 Audentes fortuna juvat. 
 
 Prior to this he had made several speeches in the 
 Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, that 
 gave an earnest of the rich harvest of professional 
 fame which he was destined by his genius, his 
 talents, and his labors, subsequently to acquire. 
 
 In the case of Pullen vs. Salter, in which he was 
 associated with Mr. Binney, for the plaintiff, and 
 which was founded upon a grievous assault committed 
 by the defendant upon a helpless child, he not only 
 succeeded in convicting the defendant in a criminal 
 court, but he recovered, upon a civil action, a large 
 verdict, the amount of which was vested in him 
 as trustee for the benefit of the child, and finally 
 paid over by him with its accumulated interest, upon 
 the arrival of his client at maturity. 
 
 The first case wherein I personally encountered 
 him at the bar was in the year 1818. Thecaseof the 
 commonwealth against Alderman Binns, which in 
 most of its features resembled that last spoken of. I 
 
21 
 
 was counsel for the commonwealth, and Mr. Inger- 
 soll represented the defendant. It was a case of 
 great excitement, and occupied several days in its 
 trial. Being, as has been said, my first case, before 
 commencing my speech, I turned to Mr. Ingersoll, 
 although my antagonist, and said, " This is a terrific 
 ordeal, very much like facing a full mouthed-battery." 
 " Yes," was the reply, " it is truly a great day for you, 
 as you may probably date your rise or ruin from it." 
 
 " I," he continued, " had a similar case very early 
 in my practice, in which I happened to succeed, and 
 I have felt the influence of it upon my professional 
 career ever since." This remark was not very en- 
 couraging to me at the time, but no doubt it proved 
 very salutary. 
 
 For thirty years the history of his life was the 
 history of the bar. He was the cynosure of all eyes, 
 the observed of all observers. Other countries and 
 other states may boast of their distinguished jurists 
 and advocates, but the bar of Pennsylvania, in its 
 palmy days, defies all rivalry or competition. And 
 when he withdrew from the bar, together with Horace 
 Binney, John B. Wallace, Charles Chauncey, John 
 Seargeant, and Dallas, a gap was left in its profes- 
 sional history that, perhaps, during our time at least, 
 will never be filled up. They have, however, thrown 
 a halo of glory over their successors, which should be 
 valued and guarded as a rich inheritance, and which, 
 if not increased, should at least be preserved and 
 bequeathed to those who follow us. 
 
22 
 
 Mr. Ino-ersoll sometimes took full notes of his fo- 
 rensie speeches, which were beautifully and logically 
 arranged, and with the greatest care. Kot that it was 
 necessary to him, but in some instances he deemed 
 it essential to the subject, though he rarely referred 
 to his manuscript ; and it could scarcely be perceived 
 that it was in any way relied upon. 
 
 He spoke equally well upon all occasions. His 
 language was pure, ornate, and most graphic, and 
 his manner was a study for a forensic speaker. He 
 was not what you would call a keen or subtle lawyer, 
 who may have a sharp wedge, but no maul to drive 
 it. The jury, therefore, was always ready to believe 
 what he said, from his general candor and honesty, 
 and it is much to be doubted whether he ever lost a 
 cause, which he ought to have gained. 
 
 He had great delicacy and purity of conversation, 
 lie had all the refinements of a woman, with the 
 energy of a man. He was a most distinguished 
 colloquist. His mind was not only a library of useful 
 knowledge, but, it was a circulating library; not re- 
 served and locked up for the purpose of occasional 
 display, but free and bountiful as the atmosphere by 
 which he was surrounded. 
 
 It is a difficult thing to compress the scenes and 
 services of an active life of fourscore years, within 
 tlic narrow limits of a single hour, lint thed : mcnlty 
 is diminished, upon the present occasion, in the belief 
 that I am addressing those who are familiar with the 
 bright pages, of which 1 represent merely the index. 
 
23 
 
 Of the career of some men it might be said, they were 
 born, they lived, and they died ; but not so of one the 
 span of whose life embraced the diversified practical 
 exercise of all the social, moral, professional, and 
 Christian duties. 
 
 Although we admit the mind is the standard of 
 the man, as the jewel is the treasure of the casket, 
 we may be permitted, if not expected to present a 
 scanty sketch at least of the exterior of one, whose 
 mental qualities were so beautiful, so various, and 
 so harmonious. 
 
 In person, Mr. Ingersoll was somewhat above the 
 medium height, of light complexion, bright blue eyes, 
 auburn hair, small features, and of a slender, lithe, and 
 active frame. In his dress he was always scrupu- 
 lously neat. In his address he was familiar and cheer- 
 ful to all, without being contaminated by any. He 
 possessed a placid temper. I have tried cases with 
 him and against him, that, from their excitement and 
 peril, not only stirred men's blood, but made the hair 
 stand on end, and the whole community look aghast! 
 and yet I never knew him to lose his equanimity or 
 composure for a single moment. In the trials of what 
 were called the church riots, Orange riots, and Ken- 
 sington riots, which lasted for months, and I might 
 almost say for years, during which your streets flowed 
 with blood ; and outrage, disorder, and murder per- 
 vaded large portions of this community, he pursued 
 
24 
 
 his calm and stead}- course, and smiled as serenely 
 as the sun amidst an elemental war ! 
 
 He manifested no signs of labor, was systematic in 
 the performance of all his various duties, and charac- 
 terized by the strictest sense of honor and propriety 
 in his entire intercourse with the court, the bar, and 
 the country. But that was not all : he was a man of 
 exemplary piety, without the least Pharisaical pre- 
 tension. In short, he combined the Lawyer with the 
 unsophisticated Christian, and in the language of 
 one who never fails, 
 
 " So far behind his worth, 
 Come all the praises that we now bestow : 
 He was complete, in feature and in mind, 
 With all good grace, to grace a gentleman." 
 
 Even in his afflictions, although he felt deeply, he 
 never evinced a repining spirit. He was deprived of 
 the beloved partner of his bosom, two sons, and a 
 daughter ; and although bending beneath those griev- 
 ous blows, his spirit was never broken, but looked 
 with a sublime eye upon these dispensations and de- 
 crees of an all -wise Judge. Cut loose, however, from 
 those tender and endearing domestic attachments, he 
 finally withdrew from the toils of the bar, and de- 
 voted his attention to the charms of a refined litera- 
 ture, and to the inestimable and inexhaustible trea- 
 sures of Holy Writ, the Great Book of Eternal Life! 
 So he lived, and so at length he died, in the humbh 
 hope, through Redeeming love, of being gathered to 
 the companionship of the just made perfect. 
 
25 
 
 Having thus furnished a hasty outline of the por- 
 trait of our departed friend, it is with mingled pain 
 and pleasure that we now turn to some of the more 
 particular details and coloring of the picture. 
 
 He had a fine poetical taste, a high appreciation of 
 the charms of poetry, and ancient and modern litera- 
 ture. Although he wrote but little himself, he read 
 much, and thereby relieved while he improved his 
 professional labor. There was a classic beauty in 
 his mind, of which of course his language largely 
 partook. He was never overbearing, and not to be 
 overborne. He was a most generous, genial, and 
 confiding friend. 
 
 All orders and departments of learning reciprocally 
 borrow and reflect light, and, in their united influence, 
 constitute the truly accomplished man. Each and 
 all require labor, while they relieve, sweeten, and re- 
 ward labor. You may have ever so rich a quarry, 
 but without the chisel and the mallet the glorious 
 statues will sleep there forever. 
 
 Industry is not natural to man, it may become ha- 
 bitual, or it may be stimulated by necessity, or a 
 desire of gain ; but with Mm, it was apparently a mat- 
 ter at once of duty and delight; and yet his efforts 
 were so regulated and systematized as to afford him 
 abundant opportunity for all the social enjoyments 
 and virtues and happiness of life : so that he might 
 be said to be a devout student, and a most accom- 
 
26 
 
 plished gentleman, at the same time. He was not a 
 demonstrative man ; it was not in his nature to be vain 
 or obtrusive. He rarely talked of himself, or his 
 profession, or his professional brethren. He had no 
 jealousies, for his position was above them. He had 
 no enemies, except among those who were enemies 
 to virtue. He was a man of high and excitable 
 spirit, and of undoubted courage ; but those qualities 
 were so tempered by a most generous and charitable 
 heart, and by a sense of self-respect, that they were 
 rarely, if indeed ever, unnecessarily displayed. He 
 was, as I have said, a warm, cherished, and faithful 
 friend, a charitable and most generous benefactor, a 
 tender and devoted relative, an unshaken patriot, and 
 an honest man. To say this and all this is to say no 
 more than the experience of all who knew Mm, and 
 now hear me, will abundantly confirm. Alas ! he is 
 gone, and the place that knew him shall know him 
 no more ! But he has left to survivors the cherished 
 memory of his virtues to be embalmed, and his spot- 
 less example to be imitated. 
 
 Will my kind friends allow me here to recall what 
 has been omitted in its proper place, but which is 
 still deemed perjtinent to the objects of this occasion ? 
 
 In the course of these remarks I have incidentally 
 referred to the father and his distinguished sons — a 
 glorious triumvirate, all figuring at the same time! 
 History, we may add, scarcely supplies an example 
 of such brilliant professional powers, exhibited in the 
 same immediate family. Nothing could be more im- 
 
27 
 
 pressive than to behold them either as colleagues, or 
 antagonists in some exciting and important cause — 
 especially in cases wherein they were professionally 
 opposed, and when the conflict was beautifully tem- 
 pered by parental regard and filial or fraternal affec- 
 tion; so that while dutifully struggling for success, 
 their respective hopes of triumph were mingled with 
 grateful sympathies for their opponents. ~No name, 
 Ave may add, has ever shed a more lasting forensic 
 lustre upon the annals of the Pennsylvania bar than 
 that of Ingersoll ! 
 
 To resume my imperfect sketch. Mr. Ingersoll 
 was a graduate of Princeton in the year 1804, and 
 received the first honors of his class, consisting of 
 Southard, and Frelinghuysen, and others of like dis- 
 tinction — men who magnified their country and them- 
 selves ! Having studied with his father, he was ad- 
 mitted to the practice of law on the 2d of June, 1807. 
 He united literary with professional labors. He de- 
 livered discourses in the various Universities of the 
 nation from Maine to Mexico. Those, and his politi- 
 cal and philanthropic discourses, have been published 
 and are extensively known, so as to render all special 
 notice upon this occasion unnecessary if not super- 
 fluous. We may be excused in saying, however, that 
 he virtually contributed to give sight to the blind, 
 hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, while he also 
 practically and largely promoted the dissemination 
 
28 
 
 of literature and science and philanthropy through- 
 out the entire community. 
 
 The degrees of " LL. D." and D. C. L. have been 
 repeatedly and deservedly conferred upon him by the 
 highest literary and scientific institutions in our land. 
 Honorable public employments have been enjoyed by 
 him. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of 
 the University of Pennsylvania ; a delegate to the 
 diocesan and general conventions of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church; President of the Academy of Fine 
 Arts; President of Select Council; member of the 
 Philosophical Society; President of the Colonization 
 Society, and President of the Historical Society. 
 
 He was elected to Congress in 1836 and 1837, and 
 then, having declined a re-election, he was afterwards 
 elected in 1842 ; again in 1817, and has since been 
 continued, by increasing majorities. He was the 
 author of the minority report of the Committee of 
 " Ways and Means" of this same Congress against 
 the assumption of State debts, and an issue of two 
 hundred millions of United States bonds for distri- 
 bution among the States. He opposed the repeal of 
 the tariff of 1842 (in the 28th Congress), and drew an 
 elaborate report against that repeal on behalf of the 
 minority of the committee. He spoke against the 
 annexation of Texas. In the session of L849, the sub- 
 treasury law was also opposed by him. On the Ore- 
 gon question he delivered an earnest and masterly 
 speech against the -fifty-four-forty doctrine, and in 
 favor of an amicable adjustment of the dangerous 
 
29 
 
 controversy therein involved. In the 30th Congress 
 he became Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in 
 the duties of which high station he manifested the 
 most untiring industry and distinguished ability. 
 
 In the year 1852 he was appointed, by President 
 Fillmore, Minister to England, where he remained 
 and exercised his functions with great distinction 
 until the expiration of Mr. Fillmore's term of office, 
 when he returned to Philadelphia and retired to 
 private life. 
 
 Allow me again to say, Mr. Ingersoll was a ripe 
 and an accomplished lawyer, possessed of all the 
 learning that the duties of his profession demanded. 
 It was truly said of Shakspeare, the brightest genius 
 of the world, that if he had been more deeply learned 
 it might have impaired and cramped his genius, and 
 he w T ould have thought or written less or worse. As 
 of Milton it has been observed, that if he had spared 
 a little learning "Paradise Lost" would have been 
 much improved. So it may be truly said of our 
 subject, that if he had studied more, or could have 
 studied more, his efficiency and triumphant success, 
 in the vast variety of his practice, would in all human 
 probability have been impaired. He was indefatigably 
 industrious. His whole disposable time was con- 
 stantly employed, not upon any exclusive subject, 
 but upon cases of the most diversified and compli- 
 cated character. His original foundations in the law 
 were laid broad and deep and strong, and fully sus- 
 tained during half a century, the beautiful super- 
 
30 
 
 structure and embellishments which his taste, his 
 fancy, and his talents thereon erected. 
 
 He was never known to be taken by surprise, or to 
 appeal for indulgence ; nor, what is more, I never 
 knew him to refuse indulgence to others, when rea- 
 sonably requested. 
 
 He faithfully represented his client, and did what 
 he thought his client ought to do. He never forgot 
 his moral or social obligations in the discharge of his 
 professional duties. He always bore in mind that an 
 advocate should be a gentleman, that a true gentle- 
 man should be a Christian, one of the Almighty's 
 noblemen. He neither buried nor perverted the 
 talent with which he had been intrusted by his divine 
 Master, but applied it to the great purposes of his 
 Creator, in clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, 
 sustaining the feeble, opening the eyes of the blind, 
 and proving a friend and a father to the poor, the 
 outcast, and the wretched. The result was, the accu- 
 mulation of an ample fortune, and without a spot, or 
 blur, or blemish upon his personal or professional 
 fame. 
 
 We are aware that it has been said, that with all 
 these accomplishments, he was not a very profound 
 lawyer. So it was said of Lord Bacon, to whom Sir 
 Thomas Fleming was preferred to the chief justice- 
 ship of the King's Bench, simply because, says Lord 
 Campbell, "he was a mere lawyer, and did not mor- 
 tify the vanity of the witty, nor alarm the jealousy 
 of the ambitious." 
 
31 
 
 So also it was charged against Lord Mansfield, by 
 the envious and vulgar of his time, who are always 
 eager to pull down those who soar above them, and 
 insist that if a man is celebrated for elegant accom- 
 plishments he can have no law, and if he is distin- 
 guished as a deep lawyer, he can have no elegant 
 accomplishments. 
 
 Again, upon the creation of Lord Brougham to the 
 Lord Chancellorship of Great Britain, Sir Edward 
 Sugden, who was his competitor, observed: "What 
 a pity it is that the Lord Chancellor knows nothing 
 of Equity." Upon this being communicated to 
 Brougham, he pithily remarked : " It is a much 
 greater pity that Sir Edward should know nothing 
 else!" 
 
 The very variety and activity of professional em- 
 ployment may distract the best mind, and prevent 
 that concentration of thought essential to a laborious 
 and devoted investigation. Men like Sir Fletcher 
 Norton, and Sargeant Maynard, and Chief Justice 
 Holt, may prefer the study of year-books, or the 
 iNatura-brevium, or Fearne on Remainders, or the 
 Statutes at Large, — they were great lawyers, but cer- 
 tainly not great men! 
 
 But he was not only, as has been said, a great 
 lawyer and thorough advocate, but he was a great 
 man, considered in all the qualifications and combi- 
 nations of his character, moral, intellectual, social, 
 and religious. To borrow a figure from a powerful 
 
32 
 
 speech of his in Congress, he maintained a position 
 "like that which in architecture is said to enhance the 
 magnificence of a Grecian temple, when placed, as it 
 ought to be, on elevated ground, and gaining by dis- 
 tance and unobstructed prospect, at once in grandeur 
 and distinctness for the view it stands unmated and 
 alone!" There may have been more profound lawyers, 
 but none superior to him in eloquence, or in what may 
 be called the aptitudes of his profession, and few equal 
 to him in those graces of character, which, we are 
 told, make ambition a virtue. A great lawyer is not 
 necessarily, we repeat, a great man. Lord Coke was 
 a great lawyer, but a little man ; and if parts allure 
 you, see how Bacon shiued, " the wisest, brightest, 
 meanest of mankind." Ingersoll may have been 
 second in some accomplishments to those who were 
 greatest, but those very men were second to him in 
 the diversity, generality, efficiency and purity of his 
 knowledge. 
 
 In addition to all these various responsibilities and 
 public duties, he had confided to him the instruction 
 of more students than any other member of the bar 
 in this city ever had. And it may be justly said that 
 they were as well trained, and reflected as much 
 credit upon the preceptor and the profession, as any 
 students from any other quarters. It might be 
 deemed invidious to name them, but some have 
 filled high judicial position, and all have contributed 
 largely to the integrity and distinction of the 
 Philadelphia bar. 
 
33 
 
 The course of reading prescribed in his office was 
 thorough. Laying the groundwork in the study of 
 natural, political, and international law, and the popu- 
 lar and elegant commentary of Sir Wm. Blackstone, 
 he led them to the fundamental Doctrines of Tenures 
 and Estates, which were followed by the Standard 
 Treatises, of Preston, Fearne, Powell, and Sugden. 
 Knowing well that without regular and periodical, 
 and thorough digestion, of what had been read, the 
 student would need that stimulus and encourage- 
 ment so necessary to excite and keep alive an interest 
 in his studies, he subjected them to regular and syste- 
 matic monthly examinations of the course of studies, 
 explaining what was obscure, and impressing upon 
 them what was most important and essential. 
 
 Now, it is not so remarkable that Mr. Ingersoll 
 should have accomplished so much, as that he should 
 invariably accomplish it so well. Without the most 
 rigid method, punctuality, and perseverance, no such 
 results could possibly have been produced. The in- 
 structor, therefore, might well have been proud of his 
 pupils, and the pupils (many of whom are still dis- 
 tinguished ornaments of the bar), it is certain, have 
 ever held the name of their master in grateful, affec- 
 tionate, and reverential remembrance. 
 
 He was blessed, as has been said, with two sons 
 and a daughter. The sons died in early infancy. In 
 the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three he lost 
 his affectionate wife, with whom he had lived nearly 
 a quarter of a century. She was the daughter of 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Alexander Wilcox, formerly an eminent member of 
 the ancient Philadelphia bar; a woman of great 
 personal attractions, an amiable temper, and most 
 refined and accomplished manners. 
 
 He was now left with but one child, a daughter — 
 a delicate, fragile, and beautiful girl, the last sur- 
 viving pledge of mutual affection, who, after having 
 just reached the prime of life, was suddenly torn by 
 remorseless death, from the arms of her devoted 
 father. 
 
 Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely pluck'd, soon faded, 
 Plucked in the bud and faded in the spring. 
 
 Thus bereft, what had he in this world to live for? 
 It has been poetically, though truly said, that the 
 crowning sorrow of all earthly sorrows, is the 
 memory of past joys, past, never to return ! 
 
 Thus afflicted, after having been surrounded by all 
 the embellishments and attractions of the world, what 
 remained, alas ! of comfort and consolation, what les- 
 sons of human philosophy could impart solace to the 
 wounds and sufferings of his heart. For agonies like 
 these there was " no balm in Gilead, no physician 
 there!" In the consciousness of destitution of all 
 worldly aid, all temporal hope, his thoughts were 
 turned to Heaven, in the Christian assurance that 
 God, and God only, can heal the wounds that he in- 
 flicts! If we cannot, in the hour of affliction, gain 
 support from religion, it is not that religion cannot 
 furnish it ; but because we want faith in its efficacy. 
 
35 
 
 All that the earth could confer, he had enjoyed ; all 
 the loss he could suffer, he had sustained ; and should 
 " we receive good at the hands of the Lord and not 
 evil !" 
 
 Then let us thank the Eternal Power, convinced 
 That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction ; 
 That oft the cloud that wraps the present hour, 
 Serves but to brighten all our future days. 
 
 As a son, a husband, a father, and a brother, he had 
 discharged and embellished the full measure of his 
 duties ; and deprived by Almighty wisdom of all 
 those tender endearments and blessings, he clothed 
 himself with humble resignation, and awaited in 
 Christian hope the inevitable doom ! All this world's 
 suffering, like this world's glory, leads but to the 
 grave, the place appointed for all living : — 
 
 "Death is the crown or crucifix of fame." 
 
 I knew him, perhaps, better than any other living 
 man ; and no one could value him more highly, or 
 deplore his loss more deeply. 
 
 His morals were of the highest order ; they were 
 the morals of religion, as spoken of in the outset of 
 this discourse ; they pointed directly to heaven ; the 
 purity of his life was in accordance with his sub- 
 lime responsibilities to a higher power. No man 
 ever heard him express a sentiment inconsistent with 
 his Christian calling or profession ; in the observance 
 of which duties his fidelity was so exemplary. The 
 warmth of his heart, like the sun, irradiated the whole 
 horizon of his life, while his innate modesty and piety 
 never let his left hand know what his right hand did. 
 
36 
 
 If he were not so remarkable as some men, it was 
 because there was so beautiful a harmony in his tal- 
 ents and his virtues ; so free from the dark shadows 
 that are sometimes attendant upon greatness, as to 
 astonish and attract us less, in contemplating the 
 lights of the portrait. 
 
 But why should we longer linger upon those 
 worldly triumphs and distinctions? What are they 
 all ! He is gone, and the place that knew him shall 
 know him no more. And now look at the grave, and 
 tell me what they all come to ! How much do they 
 partake of this world, and how little of the next ? They 
 are grateful to the sense of those who loved him, but 
 they are fleeting and illusory! A few short years 
 shall bury the remembrance of the brightest and the 
 best in this world's annals. The only record that 
 shall endure is the imperishable Record of Heaven ! 
 While therefore we may be allowed to commemorate 
 the earthly career of men,' and thus sooth the feelings 
 of sorrowful and sympathizing relatives and friends, 
 we should bear always in mind that the crowning 
 glory is the great hereafter ! 
 
 Too much familiarity with the public, in an old 
 man, has been said to be an indignity to human 
 nature, and a neglect of divine nature. Of age the 
 glory is the wish to die. He this as it may, towards 
 the close of his life, he comparatively withdrew from 
 the activity and bustle of this world, and restricted 
 
37 
 
 his intercourse, for the most part, to a limited circle 
 of his endearing relatives and friends. 
 
 He passed the fourscore years of his life without 
 most of its ordinary physical infirmities (though he 
 encountered, as we have said, changing and afflicting 
 vicissitudes) ; and finally relinquished the fleeting 
 attractions of this sublunary sphere for the immarces- 
 cible triumphs of Eternal Life! Well indeed might 
 he, and with still greater faith, have exclaimed with 
 his great Roman exemplar and prototype, " I am far 
 from regretting my temporal life, as I have the satis- 
 faction to think that I have lived in such a manner 
 as not to have lived in vain; I consider this world as 
 a place which nature never designed for my perma- 
 nent abode : and I look upon my departure, not as 
 being driven from my habitation, but as leaving my 
 Inn. Oh ! glorious day, when I retire from the toils 
 and scenes of this world, to associate with the divine 
 assemblage of departed spirits !" 
 
 Alas, he is gone! but has left us the cherished 
 memory of his virtues to be embalmed, and the benefit 
 of his bright example to be imitated ; while then we 
 mourn our loss, let us not forget that our loss is his 
 immortal gain; let us endeavor to emulate his vir- 
 tues, and thus secure to ourselves, through the merits 
 of Redeeming Love, Heaven's promised blessings to 
 the just made perfect. 
 
 'Tis nothing thus to die, but to prepare ! 
 
 To free our earthborn thoughts from their deep root ; 
 
 To fix our faith, not on the passing world, 
 
 Those fleeting pageants of terrestrial joy, 
 
38 
 
 That sicken, languish, rot in our embrace, 
 But on the world to come, which never fades, 
 Passes nor changes, brighter than day dawn ; 
 More lasting than the stars, where sits enthroned 
 The Great Jehovah ! Universal Lord ! 
 
 The orator closed amid applause. 
 
 Colonel J. Ross Snowden then said : — 
 
 Mr. President : I will detain you and the audi- 
 ence but a few moments. A Society whose chief 
 object is to collect and preserve historical matter per- 
 taining to our State and nation, is in the proper dis- 
 charge of its functions, when it takes official notice of 
 citizens who have rendered distinguished services to 
 their country. The biography of such citizens serves 
 to make up the materials of history. But we have, 
 in the case of Mr. Ingersoll, an additional motive. He 
 was, at the time of his decease, and for several years 
 preceding that event, the President of our Society. 
 
 Advancing years, with its physical infirmities, in 
 the latter period of his life, prevented him from regu- 
 larly occupying the President's chair. And I may 
 say here that the location of the Societ v's rooms, in 
 the third story of a high building — (the Athenseum) 
 — served to prevent his attendance, and that of many 
 oilier honored members — an inconvenience which will 
 continue to operate againsl the interests and useful- 
 ness of* the Society until a more suitable and secure 
 building, in an appropriate location, is obtained. 
 
39 
 
 Nevertheless, Mr. Ingersoll took a deep interest in 
 the proceedings and operations of the Society, and 
 occasionally attended its meetings. Moreover, he 
 contributed with liberality to its funds. 
 
 Mr. Ingersoll possessed all the peculiarities which 
 make up the character of an eminent, useful, and good 
 citizen. lie was distinguished for wisdom and sound 
 learning, and eminent for his probity and high sense 
 of the proprieties and duties of life. 
 
 It is to lives and characters like his, that Phila- 
 delphia is indebted for her high position as a seat of 
 learning, of science, and of literature ; which, together 
 with her educated merchants, artists, and manufac- 
 turers, and men of the learned professions, make her 
 the metropolis of a great State, and a chief city of a 
 grand country. 
 
 In bringing forward to a conspicuous view the life 
 and character of such citizens as Joseph Reed Inger- 
 soll, we not only give honor where honor is due, but 
 we render some service to our country, by setting be- 
 fore the people proper subjects for their example and 
 imitation. 
 
 It is not my purpose, however, to enlarge upon 
 this interesting theme, nor to add aivything to what 
 has been so well and appropriately said by the elo- 
 quent orator who has addressed us this evening. But 
 as a further testimonial of our regard for the memory 
 of our late President, I offer the following resolu- 
 tions : — 
 
40 
 
 Resolved, That the exercises of this evening, arranged and carried 
 into effect by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, are intended 
 to express its high admiration of the character, public services, 
 and private virtues of its late distinguished and venerable Presi- 
 dent, Mr. Ingersoll, and that the members of the Society will hold 
 his memory in the highest respect and regard. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Society, and of this audience, 
 be presented to David Paul Brown, Esq., for his eloquent and 
 appropriate eulogium on the life and character of Mr. Ingersoll, 
 and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it, to be placed 
 among the archives of the Society. 
 
 Resolved, That the eulogium delivered by Mr. Brown, together 
 with the proceedings of this meeting, be published under the di- 
 rection of the appropriate committee of the Society. 
 
 The resolutions were seconded by H. G. Jones, 
 Esq., and unanimously adopted. The audience then 
 retired. 
 
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