E 340 •L5 H8 Copy 2 MUCH S. LUC ARE, i. \ . .: ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UJTITEO STATES. Tp III !■: KD1T0R iik THE SOUTHERN I ,ITi:l!A II V MkSSENOBR I observe, with sincere satisfaction, in the la I number of the Messenger, that you invite I'M- its uns a tilting notice of the character of the distinguished man, whose recent loss, under cir- cumstances alike imposing and affecting, the nation has been called to deplore. It is a homage most appropriately due from the patriotic literature of niiiry to the memory of one, who, always a zealous worshipper at its shrine, lias done so inach to assert its dignity anil illustrate its usefulness, in connection with the highest pursuits of social and active life. The theme demands a pen, which has other qualifications than those which an ardent and devoted friendship ah can supply, t6 do justice to it in all the breadth and elevation of its moral dignity and grandeur. But there arc some reflec- tion-, growing out of the recent death of 11. ^ Legate and the national mourning which has fal- lowed it, that even an untutored hand, under 4ho instinctive guidance of the heart, may he excused for attempting to present. The tirst observation, which occurs to the mind in contemplating this lamented event, is one whfch, out of the very depth of the public nillictkui it*fla, occasioned, brings forth solid enconr.i JkicfTt to every sincere and honest patriot, and TsdWTl of in- structive lessons'to the generous and aspiring youth of the country. All must have remarked, and many not without surprise, the loud and universal m of mingled sorrow and praise which fol-, lowed to the tomb one, whose halms and tastes' through life, cherished the privacy of studious re- | r pus and enlightened people, suddenly hurst forth in one g( n.-i .il symphony of lamenta- tion and exalted praise. Let all who i in the service of their coun- try, with elevated views and console of usefulness, take courage from this example. Sooner or latet , the fi <■. ird of public appro and gratitude will infallibly crowi career, b hioh rests its solid and impei i liable titles on " the pursuit of noble ends by noble means." Let no feverish anxiety, for a spurious and il< riety, lead the aspirant for public esteem to put his trust in specious arts, superficial attainments, or accommodating suppleness, as available substitutes for that laborious and vigorous training and Cation of the faculties, mural and intellectual, by which only a genuine and enduring popularity can !«■ won. Let him equip himself lor the stern con- flicts of public duty from the armory of knowledge and virtue, where only weapons of the true tem- per for such a warfare are to be found, and not go forth to battle in the mimic accoutrements of the toy-shop. Let him not indulge an undue solicitude to obtain popularity. Let Ins aim rather be to 4c- scrve it. Let him exhibit in superior knowledge and acquirements — in the dil mtiring cul- tivation of all the capacities of a high public use- fulness—in noble and elevati d principles of action, the authentic credentials of bis mission to serve his country ; and his country will, in time, call fur and honor him, or, if .-be does not, the lo ill be ber'Sj ttrement — who, far from courting, shunned the pub- lic gaze, except when an imperious sense of duty brought him before it— who never cultivated popu larity, however be esteemed it, when the reward Won, but who ;; of virtuous actions— and who, from his inmcft# aspirations, fro heart, despised, as, in his lofty and I>»r/f7ng elo- nci h was ever wont to brand, (•ho unworthy arts of the demagogue, The man thus honored and lamented in bis death was neither thp favorit nor the nursling of party. Hehad,ind offended the spirit of party, on more t cSiWrj 'uinff-ie ravery ne oc easion, by the md< pi ndence and the coilcientiotislfuSsrfbition, by portrayini integrity with which be pursued the eonviflpns ofiGluplate •anity" and "fruit In- own judgment, where be believed the interests of his country ai -lake. As a consequence «of inflexibility of principle, as well as of his retiring and unobtrusive personal habits, b while living, bad not been attended, in a idter a dc reer, «The example addresses itself, with equal em- phasis, to the gifted youth of the country, who jiave not yet enli red on the arena of active exer- irc looking forward, with generous from the silence and i of their apcademic retreats'? to the part the] ire h to act up* the busy stage of life. " The des] ntimentality of the poetic muse, or rather dangerous soi/riisiry of that in, , the. naturavindolence of man, is not un fre- quently invoked to discourage a manly and stl us*4rfbition, by portraying, in fun rs, the ■ranity an.; fruitlessness of all hi pursuits. We an so/netimes asked, m the nl is- ai'Uit'd lajguage of unreasoning elegy, why " scorn delights anil live laborious days,'' in" the vain pur, suit of faf c ; seeing tjiat, — f- "tl)' 1 I lii ■ a i Ion, when we hope to find, An.] tb/nk lo bin-: Uomfefhe Mmd Fury with abho And slits the thin-spun lite." Corresponding to bis rare endowments, with all external evidences of public consideration, n his friends, who, in the unreserved freedom ol private intercourse, bad been able, to sound the merite 1°'' Su >"' I 1" : ""' r ' v 'T' L '*' ^ ^ H . , But ,h ° ° nl >' fWne ' Which a true a »' l,ilio » « <*Pa- mtrned. feuch, however, is the winning power of ble of coveting, is one which -the abhorred shears v nine and talents, even when separated from the; of the Mini Furv" have no power to des ov It °XS ;*iiy and success. f Having enjoyed, in early youth, the advantages of a finished education in the best schools of his own country and of Europe, he continued, through all the avocations and active employments of his future life, the same habits of diligent and enthu- siastic study by which he established, from the first, a marked preeminence among his companions. He was so smitten with a sympathetic apprecia- tion of the great Roman orator's noble panegyric of letters, that he literally fulfilled in his daily habits, (without any such purpose, certainly, as that of mere pedantic conformity), the picture of their attractions so graphically delineated in the lat'er part of that celebrated passage — -Here Sta- dia. $-c, delectant domi, mm impediunlgforis,per- noctant nobiscum,peregrinanlur, rusticantur. His books were his inseparable companions, whether at home, or abroad — they passed the "night with him, they travelled with him, they accompanied him in his occasional rural retreats. A jealous economist of time, and particularly attentive to husband those odd fragments of leisure, which irregularly intervene in the routine ot daily employ- ment, and which by most persons are thrown away as useless, he was more fortunate even than the ancient philosopher, who reproached himself with the loss of one day in the course of a long life. Legare never lost an hour, for however small the interval of time which fell upon bis hands, unoc- ■i by the necessary demands of business, or the cherished society of a chosen circle of friends, it vas never wasted. A book, a pen, or a train of thought to be resumed, was always at hand to absorb and employ it usefully ; for so perfect was the discipline of mind he had established, through long habits of industry and study, that he turned his attention, at will, to whatever subject seemed, at the moment, fittest to engage it. As a scholar, he stood without a rival among the public men of America of his day, and if, even in that class of learned men who make the cultiva- tion and pursuit of letters the sole business of their lives, he ha - d any superior in scholarship, it would be difficult to say who that superior was. His acquaintance with the great writers of antiquity, the master minds- of Greece and Rome, was inti- mate, thorough and familiar — placing at his ready and perfect command all those hidden treasures of thought, philosophy and wisdom, all those exqui- site models of taste, eloquence and power, which lie enshrined in their immortal works. In the lan- guages and literature of modern Europe he was perfectly at home. He not only read, but wrote and spoke the languages of France and Germany with the ease and elegance of a native, and was profoundly versed in their history and literature. He had explored, with particular industry and suc- cess, the rich mines of learning and historical dis- covery, (so to speak), which the acute and recon- dite researches of modern German writers have opened, and enlarged his own accumulated stores by^he super-addition of the fruits of their valuable labors. A With all this affluence of intellectual wealth.^ie .made no ostentatious display of his acquisitions. They were assimilated into the solid nutriment of his own mind, and their effect was seen rather in the enlarged scope and vigor of his conceptions, than in any exhibition of mere learning. As a speaker and writer, the style of his elo- quence was ornate and rich. But, like thegorgeous- ness of Burke, this was the unbidden effect of the irrepressible exuberance of his genius. No one despised more than he did the mere glitter of words, or held in lighter esteem the studied arts of the professed rhetorician. Whatever was the eleva- tion and richness of his diction, it was uniformly supported by a corresponding richness and eleva- tion of thought. The stream of his eloquence was fed from copious and inexhaustible fountains, and its majestic current fertilized and fructified, even when lt^nundated its banks. His character and abilities, as a profound and accomplished jurist, have been already given to the world under the seal of the highest authority. To the question, was he an eminent lawyer, Judge Story, in his beautiful and touching address to the Law School at Harvard, while the funeral bells of Boston* were yet tolling the knell of his departed spirit, answered emphatically and unhesitatingly — ■■ no man was more so." And certainly, if a pro- found acquaintance with the most renowned systems of ancient and modern law, with the common law of England, the civil law of Rome, the codes of France and Germany, added to a familiar know- ledge of the laws and constitutions of our own country and a thorough indoctrination in the prin- ciples of universal jurisprudence, can make an able and accomplished lawyer, Legare was such. All this breadth and scope of knowledge, however superfluous it may be deenjf?rFfor the lawyer who, to use the winds of Cicero, is nothing more than i gul nis i /in,/, mi cautus, et aculus prmco aclionum, H. S. Legare, laic Attorney General of the United States, cantor formularum, auceps syilabarum,vtna neces- sary to fill Mr. Legare's conception of tlie cha- racter of a great lawyer, worthy of the name, and of a calling which boasts its rank among the learned professions. One of the great secrets of his superiority was to place ever before him the highest standards of excellence, in every depart- ment, as the beau, ideal, at least, which a true and lofty ambition should aim to approximate as near as possible, if not able fully to attain. His idea of the nobleness and grandeur of the law, in its true dignity, was that which Bolingbroke has so justly and eloquently portrayed, and his impersonations of that idea were the Bacons, the Clarendons, the Somers, the Mansfield's of England,— the Mar- eballs, the Pinkneys of America.* The narrow and unworthy prejudice against learning, as incompatible with professional emi- nence, which has been so properly rebuked by Judge Story, sometimes ventured to question the claims of Air. Legare to the character of an able lawyer. on the very ground of his acknowledged pre-emi- nence in the attainments of elegant literature. The same Gothic prejudice, we learn from con- temporary memorials, boldly called in question the legal abilities of Lord Mansfield, and was humor- ously satirized, at the time, in some lines of Pope, in which the poet represents two heavy Serjeants of the Temple, " who deemed each other oracles of law," exulting, with a grave self-complacency, in the fancied profoundness of their own legal attain- ments, while " Each shook his head at Murray as a wit." And yet this Murray rapidly rose through all the gradations of professional eminence, to the Chief Justiceship of the King's Bench, in which court he presided, with unrivalled lustre and ability, for thirty-two years, having been thrice offered also the great seal of Lord Chancellor; and such was the almost miraculous infallibility displayed by him as a Judge, that, out of the numerous decisions rendered by him during that long period of time, but two or three of his judgments were ever re- versed, and about an equal number of instances occurred in which any of his brethren differed in opinion from him. With such an illustrious exam- ple before us, we shall be slow to believe that the superior literary accomplishments of Mr. Legare * In his letters on the study of History addressed to Lord Combnry, the great grand3on of the Earl of Clarendon, Bolingbroke, after speaking of the profession of the law as " in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to mankind, in Us abase anrl debasement, the most sordid and the most pernicious," makes the following remarks, admirable alike for their eloquence and truth. "There have been lawyi rs that were orators, philosophers, historians, — there have been Bacons and Clarendons, my lord. There will be none such any more, till, in some better age, true ambition, or the love ot fame, prevails over avarice, and till mm find leisure, and encouragement to prepare for the exercise ot this profession by climbing up to the'va igi ground,' so my Lord Bacon calls it, ol science; instead of grovelling all their lives below in a mean, lint gainful application to all the little arts of chicane. 'Till this Lap- pen, the profession of the law will scarce deserve to be ranked among the Learned professions; ami whenever ii happens, one of the ■ vantage grounds,' to which men must climb, is metaphysical, and the other historical knowledge." were likely to prove a hindrance to him in the path of professional reputation and success, or t" vent him from fulfilling his destiny, in becoming one of I he chiefest glories of the American bar. As a Statesman, the merits and talents of Mr. Legare were of the very first order. If early conceived the noble ambition of usefully SI fvitl his country, not to gratify a selfish vanity, or to promote any private or personal end, hut from a true filial devotion to her glory, and from a gene- rous and magnanimous desire to hear his part in upholding the honor and success of her model Insti- lutious. His whole training was one of admirable preparation for this high career. There is no branch of knowledge proper to an American Stati - man in which be was not a profound adept. He had thoroughly studied the genius of popular govern- ment, as well in its essential principles, as in all its great historical examples. With what sagacious and discriminating research he explored the his- tory and institutions of the master states of anti- quity, the Republics of Greece and Rome, he ha3 given to the world proud and enduring evidence, in writings which will long survive him, and winch posterity, assuredly, " will not willingly let die."* He had traced and meditated, with equal diligence and care, the progress of civil and political liberty among our British ancestors; and all those great social and political revolutions, which have chai the face of modern Europe, were alike familiar to his mind, in their causes, incidents and results, and with all the monitory and instructive lessons with which they are so richly fraught. With these pre- paratory lights, he made our own peculiar, happy and complicated system of popular and federative government, the subject of his profoundest study, :n id was as deeply imbued with its spirit, as lie was thoroughly initiated in its principles, and faun conversant with its constitutional action. To these primary qualifications of all true American States- manship, he added that enlarged knowledge of the sound principles of political economy, and of the fundamental laws of trade, currency, revenue and finance, which are indispensable guides to en- lightened practical legislation. With the public law of nations, which regulates, in peace and in war, the mutual rights and duties of civilized and independent states, the diplomatic position he h.nl filled abroad with so much honor to his country ai 1 to himself, no less than his early studies, made him intimately acquainted; and to crown all these civic accomplishments and advantages, he had en the precious opportunity of observation and expe- rience amid the largest scenes of human affairs, in foreign countries, as well as his own. When Mr. Legare, therefore, came into Con- gress, he came clad in complete armor. The speeches and reports made by him, during the brief period of his service there, show with what full- ness of information and knowledge lie came into the discussion of every question in which he took a part — enriching it with the widest amplitude of illustration— judging it with the utmost maturity of Ih *ht and wisdom — while adorning it with the graces of a finished and captivating eloquence. *Two most able and learned tracts, one on the Consti- tutional History of Greece and the Democracy of Athens, the other on the origin, History and Influence of Roman lalion, are here more particularly alluded to. / H. S. Legare, late Attorney General of the United States. But bis career there was permitted to continue two years only, leaving the nation to regret the prema- ture loss, from its legislative councils, of the rare and eminent abilities and statesmanship, of which, in so short a time, he gave such abundant and une- quivocal proofs. The splendor of his genius accompanied him in his ostracism, and illuminated the obscurity of his retreat. He was soon called back, to take a pro- minent position in the Executive Government of the country, for which he was pointed out solely by the consideration of his superior fitness ; for he never sought office, and his friends deemed too highly of him to believe that any office was capa- ble of adding to the intrinsic dignity of his talents and worth. This new sphere of duty elicited new proofs of his varied powers and attainments, and developed comprehensive faculties of public useful- ness, co-extensive with and equal to every demand of the public service. Besides the able and dis- tinguished discharge of the duties which more par- ticularly belong to the post he occupied, which received the united testimony of the most enligh- tened judges and of the general voice of the country, he brought to the aid of the government, on every great question of national interest, a fund of know- ledge, a clearness of views and a promptitude of decision, which could not fail to be sensibly felt and appreciated. When unexpectedly called to fill the leading Executive Department, it is not unreason- able to suppose, and it is hoped the suggestion may be made without offence, that none of the able and distinguished men who have filled it, upon their first introduction to its duties, probably ever felt m ire at home among its high and imposing con- cerns, than did Mr. Legare — excepting always, with the profound reverence so especially their due, those great minds of revolutionary schooling, which grew up along with the thorny and difficult questions of our international relations, and which laid deep the foundations of our foreign policy and public law. The records of the State Department, during the short, but busy month his life was spared to stamp the lasting mark of his genius, industry and abilities upon them, will show whether this suggestion may not. find in its verisimilitude some excuse for its temerity. It. is not a little remarkable that Mr. Legare was doomed sometimes to encounter the same scepti- cism, in regard to his practical abilities as a States- which had thrown unavailing doubts on the solidity of his legal attainments, and from ihe same , The extraordinary polish and brightness of his weapons, however massive, seemed to raise suspicions of their strength and durability. The very superiority of his qualifications inspired dis- trust of their reality. So the great Roman States- man and orator, whom Mr. Legare especially re- sembled, in the broad and elaborate foundation of general learning on which he raised the superstruc- ture of his political talents and usefulness, was pointed at, when he made his appearance on the public stage, as the Greek and the Scholar. Yet this did not prevent him from exhibiting such con- summate proofs of practical statesmanship, in cir- cumstances of the most complicated difficulty and danger, as no man ever surpassed, and which pro- cured for him, by a solemn decree of the nations! gratitude, the title of the Father of his country. But eminent as were the intellectual powers and accomplishments of Mr. Legare, they formed by no means, the most distinguished part of his public character. It was the high moral tone so visibly impressed on all his actions, his disdain of every thing low and mean and narrow, the commanding, elevation of his principles and views, the lofty spirit of personal honor, the magnanimous courage' and self-reliance of conscious virtue, which made him truly great. What the greatest of Irish oraj tors so impressively said of the first of British Statesmen, with suitable modifications, may b« justly said of Legare. "No state chicanery, nc narrow system of vicious politics, no idle contesi for mere party victories, regardless of principle, ever sunk him to the vulgar level of the so callec great ;" but resolute, conscientious, undaunted ant unseduced, his object was ever the glory, liberty and happiness of his country — his means wen truth, integrity, patriotism and honor. A character, thus marked by the prominent an< dazzling traits which enlist public admiration ant applause, was set off by all those milder, but no less winning qualities which inspire affection an< esteem, and which give to human life its highes charm and sweetest attraction. He was the deligh and the ornament of the society he frequented The spirit and brilliancy of his conversation weri unremitting and unsurpassed. His manners wen of the most perfect tone, uniting the dignity am elegance of the gentleman with the cordiality am playfulness of the companion and the friend. II lii! cultivated, with no small success, a taste fo the fine arts, whose happy influence it is to hu nianize and soften, without enervating the charac ter. But above all, his heart was warm, noble generous and true, despising every form of indi rection and meanness, — embracing, with the stron. affinities of a kindred spirit, whatever was loft in principle, magnanimous in sentiment, or virtnou in action — entering, with the warm and unrestrame effusions of childhood itself, into the lovely sj mpi lliics and affections of domestic life, — and in frienc >hip ever firm, faithful and devoted. But remini; cences, such as these, are too intimately connecte with a yet bleeding sense of an irreparable person: loss, to be obtruded upon the public eye; and th sacred curtain, which the hand of an awful an mysterious providence has let fall upon the chc rished hopes and affections of the heart, must r« main farther undisturbed. R,. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II II III II lllll I 1 1! 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