YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 06741

8039

Sunderland, B.
Sermon coromeraorative of the life,..
of the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey of Canfield.Ohio...
Washington, 1864.

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1936

SEBMON

C 'MMEMOBATIVE OF THB

LIFE, CHARACTER, AND SERVICES

HON. ELISHA WHITTLESEY,

OF CANFIELD, OHIO,

DKL1VERED IN*

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D.

THE PASTOR, REV. B. SUNDERLAND, D. D.

WASHINGTON, D. 0. :
ITcGILL 4 WITHEEO'W, I'RINTBBS AND STBEEOTYPERS
1864.

SBBMOU

COMMEMORATIVE OF THB

LIFE, CHARACTER, AND SERVICES

HON. ELISHA WHITTLESEY,
OF OAMTFIELD, OHIO,

DELIVERED IN

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D. C,

SUNDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 1864,

THE PASTOR, REV. B. SUNDERLAND, D. D.

WASHINGTON, D. C. =
MoGILL 4 WITHEEOW, PEINTEE8 AND STEREOTYPEKS.
1864.

DEDICATION.

To the children of the honorable man deceased to his family kindred,
to his fellow Christians and countrymen throughout the land, is this
humble tribute to his memory earnestly subscribed, with the heartfelt
prayer that his Tirtues may be emulated, and his example followed to
the latest time.
B. SUNDERLAND.

01)63. 5"4-3;

SERMON.

Ps. cxii, 6. — " The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.''
Prov. x, 1. — "The memory of the just is blessed."
Could the truth of these words penetrate every heart, and
fashion the characters of men, the world would contain a noble
race. Sometimes a signal example rises from among the multi
tudes, to give us a practical proof of its possiblity. The men who,
from time to time, thus appear upon the field of observation,
deserve to be marked, as astronomers watch the coming and going
of the stars for the perfection of their celestial science. A star
is great in its physical aspects only ; but how much greater is a
human soul, full of the spirit and the light of God, emerging upon
the stage of action, traveling upon its course through the cycle
of time, and finally ascending in its august and eternal motion into
some higher and grander orbit of the life that is immortal.
Such a man was Elisha Whittlesey. His memory is
blessed, and his name will be held in everlasting remembrance,
for he was a just and righteous man ; he was just such a man as
we may conceive might be the fruit of a state of society bordering
on the age, if not existing in the heart of the age, of the mil-
lenium itself. God gives us men like him, not for the mere pur
pose of idle eulogy, but to hold them up before us as illustrations
of his own grace, and as examples for our imitation. And who
that knew him would not say, " Let me die the death of the right
eous, and let my last end be like his." The biography of the
good is valuable for two reasons : human nature contemplates it
with grateful pleasure, as exhibiting its own capability — and there
is ever a stimulus in the voice which speaks from it to those who
come after — " Go thou and do likewise."
I shall speak of Mr. Whittlesey as to his history and character,
with the hope of kindling in our minds a stronger desire and a

more unwavering purpose to tread the path he trod, and seek the
aims he sought.
Mr. Elisha Whittlesey was born in the State of Connecticut,
in th« closing year of the war of the Revolution. His father,
John Whittlesey, was a farmer on the Shipkog river, in Washing
ton, New Preston Society, Litchfield county. The Rev. Jeremiah
Day, father of President Day of Yale College, was then pastor of
the church in that place, from whom Elisha in his infancy received
the rite of baptism. From the farm to the church was a distance
of four and a half miles, over a broken and rocky country. No
vehicles were then in use except the rude sleighs of winter. Ac
cording to Puritan practice, every member of the family, old
enough and in health, was required to attend on the religious ser
vices of the Church. Those who had not horses went on foot.
Of those who had horses, two rode together, the father and mother
often each bearing a child. The church stood on a hill, and the
school-house beyond it on Christian street. At an early age,
Elisha was sent to school, receiving instruction in the church
where school was kept a portion of the time, and another portion
of the time in a cooper's shop near by, which was likewise used
for the same purpose. When the lad was large and stout enough
to stem the storms and stand the fatigue of the travel, he was sent
on over to the school-house beyond. Mills Day, the youngest son
of the pastor, being about the age of Elisha, they formed in their
boyhood a close and affectionate intimacy. In 1792 the father of
Elisha sold his farm in Washington, and bought another in Salis
bury, distant 30 miles. The event of removal to this new home
fell heavily on the young people. To prepare for a separation so
painful, they held preliminary meetings for some weeks, and
learned the " Farewell Anthem," which was sung in the midst of
a weeping assembly as the carts were loaded, and the teams pre
pared to start. The New England custom then was, for boys to do
farm-work in summer and attend school in winter. They remained
at home evenings, in free, familiar family conversation, or reading,
writing, and cyphering. The days chosen for recreation were set
apart by law — days of election and military parade. The election
day, however, was not for voting, but for the inauguration of the
Governor. Elisha's early education was conducted under the eye
of some of the most distinguished persons of that period. Among

his instructors, first and last, were Jeremiah Day, afterwards
President of Yale; David Whittlesey, an older cousin; Thomas
Tucker, the famous preceptor of Danbury. The day that bore him
to this place was wet and gloomy; and here it was that, soaked
with the rain and bespattered with the mire of the way, the lad
was homesick for the first and last time. He was, while here, in
the family of an older brother, Matthew B. Whittlesey, a lawyer.
He was afterwards under the tuition of Professor Scofield; then of
Mr. Robbins, Librarian of the State Historical Society; and,
finally, of Moses Stuart, so long Professor in the Theological Sem
inary at Andover. In 1803 he commenced the study of the law,
in the office of his brother Matthew; and in the March term of
1805 he passed the ordeal of admission to the bar of that noble
profession, under the scrutiny of such men as Roger M. Sherman,
Lewis B. Sturges, Asa Chapman, and David Daggett. His first
practice was in New Milford, Litchfield county, and was of short
duration ; for, at that period, two gentlemen from Canfield, Trum
bull county, Ohio, visited the place, and upon conversation with
them the young lawyer decided to cross the Alleghanies, and
plant himself upon the borders of the mighty West. But this step
required the consent of a young lady, Miss P. Mygatt, who, pre
ferring the chances of fortune thus held out, most readily ac
quiesced. On the 5th of January, 1806, they were united in
marriage by the Rev. Mr. Ward, then pastor of the Danbury
church. In a Jersey eovered wagon with a good pair of horses, they set
out upon their journey the 3d of June following, and arrived at
the place of destination, the town of Canfield, Trumbull county,
Ohio, on the 27th of the same month. The record of that jour
ney written in after years by his own hand, presents one of the
most natural, life-like, and suggestive pictures of the then state
of the country — the difficulties and perils of emigration — the
tone of society — the manners, customs, and habits of the people
I have ever seen. It would protract this discourse beyond all
reasonable length to introduce it here; but the materials are
already published, and as a portion of the voluminous writings
he has left behind him, they reflect as from a mirror the light of
the early days.
" The journey," says he, "was ended on the 27th of June, in

a clear day, and the sun set as regularly in the west as at Dan
bury." On the following August, 1806, he was admitted by the
supreme court sitting at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, to
practice law, assiduously following his profession with the ex
ception of times when he was engaged in other labors and
occupations, from that time onward to the date of his coming to
Washington in 1841. But though the young lawyer was now
fairly introduced in his new field to the professional life before him,
he had a ready hand for whatever was necessary in manual labor ;
not disdaining, in the then state of the country, to use axe or hoe
in the subjugation of the forest and the cultivation of the soil.
He gave likewise a portion of his time to keeping school in the
district for several years, and at a subsequent period his law
office was the resort of many students, some of whom have since
been among the most distinguished of our public men.
He was not long in establishing a reputation as a lawyer, for
every qualification which can command the respect and confidence
of the community as well as of the court, and his practice at the
bar was only limited by his powers of locomotion and endurance.
Aside from the immediate duties of his profession, he freely
gave his services to the public and to his country in positions of
responsibility both military and civil. There is an account left
in his own hand writing of the military offices he filled, which is
full of quiet humor, and from which we find that he began his
military career as corporal in a militia company, Danbury, Con
necticut, and he adds, " as my official services in that company
were during the period when Mr. Jefferson said ' few officers die,
and none resign,' I rose no higher than orderly sergeant, and to
that eminence I think I attained !" In the autumn of the year
after his arrival in Canfield, there was an election of officers, to
fill vacancies in a company of infantry, and Mr. Whittlesey
Was elected Ensign : " and I equipped," says he, "in full uniform
and feather !" It seems that having attended a military school
in Connecticut, before his removal to Ohio, his familiarity with
the manual of drill, &c, soon gave to him the discipline of the
company, and in due time made him its captain — his commission
as such being signed "by Thomas Kirker, Speaker of the Senate,
and acting Governor of the State, and attested by William

Creighton, Secretary of State, on the 27th February, 1808, and
of the independence of this State, the fifth !" Two years after
he was appointed aid-de-camp to Major General Elijah Wads-
worth, commanding the fourth division of Ohio militia, when he
resigned his captaincy, and accepted his new position. Two
years after this, August 22, 1812, he went with this rank into
the service of the United States in the war with Great Britain,
After this he was appointed to the rank of Brigade Major and
Inspector, under General Perkins, and remained in the service
till the spring of 1813, when he resigned. During the latter
part of this period he was detailed to act as aid and private secre
tary to General Harrison, and it was then that their acquaintance
was formed, with sentiments of mutual friendship and regard,
which continued through life without abatement.
The first civil office of more public distinction held by Mr.
Whittlesey, was that of district or prosecuting attorney for the
county of Trumbull. He was appointed to this office by the
court of common pleas, at the first full term after his admission
to the bar in 1806, and continued to discharge its duties till the
autumn of 1823, when he resigned. In the performance of
these duties he is said never to have failed to convict the accused
with one single exception, and that arose from his misuse of the
term "were" for " are," in the indictment, This certainty of
success arose from the care with which he took every step. His
practice was to attend in person before the grand jury, and inter
rogate the witnesses. If he thought the fact and the law did
not warrant a conviction, he so informed the jury. His aim was
to punish crime, but not to use the power of prosecution for any
private or selfish purposes. His whole fee for a term of court
was no more than twenty-five dollars. What would our great
lawyers now-a-days think of such a sum as that for services more
exacting, more assiduous, and more exhausting than we usually
look for now.
In addition to this office, he was twice elected to the House of
Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio ; first
in October, 1820, and again in 1821, when he was once more as
sociated with his old friend, General William Henry Harrison, in
the public service of the State. In October, 1822, he was first
elected from his Congressional district a member of the House of

Representatives of the Congress of the United States, and took
his seat in December, 1823, a member of the Eighteenth Con
gress, and was seven times thereafter in succession returned to his
seat by his constituents, until in the latter part of the Twenty-fifth
Congress, 1837, when he resigned with a view to escape the
wasting excitement of public life, and to attend to his more pri
vate and family affairs.
The period of his Congressional life was one of an eventful and
stormy character. It embraced the last two years of the second
term of President Munroe, the four years of John Quincy Adams,
the eight years of Andrew Jackson, and the first two years of
Martin Van Buren. The Republic had' grown to twenty-four
States and three organized Territories, with ten millions of people.
The end of fes period showed a still further increase to twenty-
seven States, with fourteen millions of people. The public ar
chives exhibit a scroll of distinguished names in the executive,
legislative, judicial, and military departments of the Government
during this period rarely equaled and never surpassed in the his
tory of any people or country on the globe. The measures before
the country, the questions and issues of the time, were of the
gravest character and enlisted the noblest talent, and brought out
a display of civic and forensic power that makes this chapter of
our national life one of the most illustrious in all its pages. Yet
it was a period when the power of the people for self-govern
ment was subjected to the most rigid tests that can arise from a
diversity of sectional interests, and political partizanship and am
bition. We were occupied mainly by questions of internal econ-
onomy — the financial system, the tariff, the policy of the public
lands, manufactures, commerce, the banking system, State rights,
the Federal Constitution, and the great questions, doctrines, and
debates which rose upon them. When Mr. Whittlesey first took
his seat in Congress, December, 1823, it required, perhaps even
more than it now does, talent, moral worth, and unblenching in
tegrity to secure this position, and to rise to commanding emi
nence and public confidence in it. At that time, Daniel D.
Tompkins, as Viee-President presided in the Senate, composed of
such men as Van Buren, Hayne, Macon, Johnson, Jackson, and
Benton ; and Henry Clay was made' Speaker of the House, com
prising such men as Webster, Cambreling, Randolph, Mangum,

9
McDuffie, Poinsett, and Houston. In the Cabinet were John
Quincy Adams, Secretary of State ; Crawford, of the Treasury ;
Calhoun, of War ; Crowningshield, of the Navy; and Wm. Wirt,
Attorney General. At the time Mr. Whittlesey retired from
Congress, great changes had taken place, which we have no time
to specify in detail. Van Buren was in the Presidential chair,
and R. M. Johnson was Vice President, the presiding officer of
the Senate. The Cabinet was composed of Forsythe, Secretary of
State ; Woodbury, of the Treasury ; Poinsett, of War ; Dicker-
son, of the Navy; Kendall, Postmaster General; and B. F. But
ler, of New York, Attorney General. "James K. Polk was -
Speaker of the House. Many of the great names had disappeared
from the stage of public action ; many more had changed their
position. In the Senate were Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton,
Preston, and their compeers ; in the House were men no less con
spicuous, among whom was ex-President John Quincy Adams.
During this period, from 1823 to 1839, the great questions of in
ternal improvements, of the public lands, of the increase of terri
tory, of the Bank, of State rights, of the limits and powers of the
Constitution, of nullification, and of the bank and Sub-Treasury
schem«s, had been throughly discussed and in part settled. It
does not fall in my province now to attempt to give a history of
these great, exciting issues. It was, no doubt, in the memorable
debate in the Senate, and in the contest between Hayne and
Webster, that the American forum rose to its highest pitch of
power. It was in the mighty conflict with the United States Bank
that the commercial and financial interests of the country passed
through their greatest ordeal. It was in the comparative calm
that followed these excitements, and before the next rising and
more mighty wave which carried General Harrison into the Presi
dential chair, that Mr. Whittlesey resigned his seat in Congress,
and sought once more the scenes of private life.
To speak of him in his congressional career, and in his posi
tion and influence relative to other distinguished men of the
body of which he was so long a member and an ornament, it is
but fair to state that he won and held his place among them
rather by the solid and intrinsic worth of his character than by
the more brilliant and popular qualities of transcendant genius.
He never consumed the time of the House by long and frequent

10
speeches, and he never defrauded the country by want of dili
gence or inattention to the public business. lie was, soon after
taking his seat in Congress, appointed chairman of the Committee
on Post Office- and Post Ro, els. and subsequently placed on the
Committee of Claims, and finally became its chairman, a position
which he held to the day of his leaving the body. This com
mittee, though not charged with those matters which would be
likely to give notoriety and eclat to its members, yet so far as the
interests of private and public justice were concerned, was one
of the most important of all the committees of the House, re
quiring a clear head, a deep sense of equity, the strictest
probity, and the most patient and assiduous industry. Its task
was augmented by the very nature of the work assigned it, hav
ing so often to encounter the selfishness, the cupidity, and the
passionate impatience of man. It was necessary to guard on the
one hand that the Government should not be defrauded by extrav
agant and unfounded demands, and on the other that no wrong
should be done to the private, and in many eases, poor and suffer
ing claimants. And in this connection it has been well said of
him by another, " that he was peculiarly qualified for the chair
manship of such a committee. He was gifted with that admir
able courage which never quailed before the seductive blandish
ments of wealth, or the threatening importance of power. He
never hesitated to espouse a cause simply represented by the
weak. Strong combinations of men in position to carry a point
which he believed to bo wrong had no terrors for him."
One of the first great debates in which he participated arose
upon the report of his committee on the claim of a person pro
fessing to be a citizen of New Orleans for indemnity for the im
pressment iuto the United States service of a negro claimed to
be his slave, and it is curious to observe that' after a discussion
extending through some three weeks, and conducted by such
men as Livingston, Owen, McDuffie, Everett, Randolph, and
others, one of these gentlemen wound up with the complacent
conclusion that it had been admitted on all hands not only that
there is such a thing as property in man, that its character is in
violable, but also more especially that this Government can never
disturb that question. What would the author of that speech,
Owen of Alabama, think of it now in 1864. It is needless to

11
say that though the report of the committee was adverse to the
claim, it was amended so as to pay the man, and give a more
solemn sanction to the doctrine then set forth by a vote of the
majority of the House, iu violation of all the precedents and
law in the case. Mr. Whittlesey resisted this result with all his
might, but that was in 1828 instead of 1864.
In the year 1832, when it was feared, as afterward proved to
be the case, that an awful scourge, the Asiatic cholera, then
traveling westward in its circuit of the earth, would visit this
western world and decimate our population, it had been suggested
to President Jackson, by some Christian gentlemen, that it
might be suitable for him to appoint a day of national fasting,
humiliation, and prayer to Almighty God, that He would avert or
mit.gate its evils This suggestion not being readily acted upon,
a movement to the same end was initiated in the Senate, and
under a joint resolution came into the House, whereupon a long
and earnest debate sprang up, in which Mr. Whittlesey took the
most lively interest. It called forth the most elaborate speeches
from such men as Wickliffe, Bell, Burges, Adams, Polk, Mercer,
Clay of Alabama, and others, some of whom opposed it on various
grounds, but sustained by the fidelity and Christian sentiment of
such men as Mr. Whittlesey, and those who acted with him, it
was finally carried, thus saving the credit of the Federal Congress
and setting an example to the nation. The only other debate to
which I can now refer wherein he showed his great perseverance
and fidelity to the cause of the people was that which sprung up
on the right of petition in 1836, and which produced a long,
angry, and most desperate conflict of years, in which such men as
Wise and Marshall took the lead in endeavoring to stifle the prayers
of the people, and John Quincy Adams led off as the old man
eloquent in favor of the right I need not add that in the sequel
the champions of the people were triumphant, and the first great
blow had been given to the arrogant despotism of a southern
oligarchy. In all these exciting scenes Mr. Whittlesey never lost sight of
the responsibility or the decorum belonging to his position. He
bore himself above all meanness and scurrility — always calm, de
liberate, dignified — maintaining the greatest respect for his asso
ciates, and insisting that every propriety should be observed

12
toward the officers and members both of his own House and of
the Senate, and of all the departments of the Government. His
principle in all things was justice and equity to the humblest
and the poorest, resistance to the most powerful when in the
wrong, without the fear or favor of man before his eyes, strict
attention to the public business, economy in the public disburse
ments, and purity in the public offices everywhere. He sympa
thized in general with what was known as the Whig Party in
his day on the great questions of national policy, but he was
never a partisan politician. He was a great friend and patron
of the interests of this District and of this city, and advocated
on all occasions all wise, just, and sound measures for the ma
terial growth and prosperity of the Capital of his country. He
never sought office for the sake of emolument or personal aggran
dizement, but only accepted it when freely tendered to him upon
a principle favorite with him that every man owed a duty to his
country which bound him, other things being equal, to fulfill to the
best of his ability the obligations which his fellow countrymen
might be disposed to lay officially upon him ; and what is still
more remarkable, he rivaled even Washington himself in the
strictness and accurracy with which he kept his accounts between
himself and the country he was called to serve. It has been
recorded of him " as characteristic of his moral worth and strict
integrity that the proper records will show that while in Congress,
every day's absence from his seat was noted in his account for pay.
If such absence was on committee or other duty connected with his
office as a member of the House the fact was stated. If the
absence was on his own private business the Government was
credited with so much at the rate of eight dollars per day. The
same scrupulous care in regard to mileage was exhibited. Hs
never claimed more than for the actual distance by the most di
rect route from his home to the Capitol. It is believed that no
other instance of such nicety is to be found in the congressional
accounts of that period."
This was the kind of man that laid down his legislative robes,
and after so long a service found rest in the more retired but not
less congenial walks of his private, domestic, and social life at
home. He returned to Canfield, Ohio, in July, 1838, where his
family, consisting of wife and ten children — seven sons and three

13
daughters — some now grown to manhood and womanhood, still
with one exception remained. Here he spent some three years,
resuming the practice of his profession, and following the voca
tion likewise of a farmer, which was always agreeable to him,
after the example of the Roman Cincinnatus.
In the month of February, 1841, General Harrison, his old
friend having been elected to the Presidency, and about to be
inaugurated in his office, wrote to Mr. Whittlesey, offering him a
seat in his cabinet, which he in reply accepted, but which arrange
ment before the day of inauguration was overturned by the
efforts of an Ohio politician. Subsequent to this, on the
17th of March, 1841, he was appointed to the office of Sixth
Auditor, or Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Depart
ment, and entered immediately upon its duties. This position he
accepted on two conditions, with both of which President Harri
son complied — first, that no one was to be removed to make a
place for him — second, that no clerk should be appointed or re
moved in the Bureau of which he was to be the head, without
his concurrence. After the death of Harrison, his successor,
President Tyler, confirmed the same conditions which were ob
served for more than two years, and then violated, as indeed were
many other pledges of that most unhappy "Accident " as he was
called. A clerk under Mr. Whittlesey was removed and another
inexperienced in the business was put in his place without the
Auditor's consent. There being no satisfactory explanation of
this act, Mr. Whittlesey resigned on the 30th of September,
1843, and again went into private life, choosing to maintain his
principles rather than keep his place. He would not be tam
pered with in a matter of personal honor and the veracity of his
word. Four years now passed away, at the end of which time
he was called again to Washington in 1847, to act as General
Agent of the Washington National Monument Association, and
continued in this capacity till May, 1849, when he resigned the
office, but was afterwards again called to manage the affairs of the
Association as its president, and continued to do so without
charge until 1855, when he was removed by a change of the
political party in the muncipal government of the Capital, and
since then the great column has been standing where it was then

14
arrested, a silent reproof of the act which displaced such a man
from the care of its rising to completion.
Time, however, had brought new changes over the nation, and
Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican war, had been advanced
to the Presidential chair. In June, 1849, President Taylor ap
pointed Mr. Whittlesey First Comptroller of the Treasury of the
United States, and on the first of that month he entered upon
his new and responsible duties. He held this office through the
Taylor and Fillmore administrations, and on the accession of
General Pierce as President, Mr. Whittlesey being opposed to
the principles on which he had been elevated to the Chief Magis
tracy, resigned. The resignation, however, was refused, and Mr.
Whittlesey was retained in office until Buchanan's accession,
when for like reasons he again resigned, and this time his resig
nation was accepted. Again he went into retirement at his home
in Canfield, now having been rendered desolate by the death, of
his beloved wife, which occurred in June, 1855, and by the dis
persion of most of his children and the death of two — George
B. and Elisha M. Whittlesey — a noble man long associated with
his father in the business of the Comptroller's office. Those
were the days of his sorrow and desolation. But ever active,
ever engaged in useful occupations, he put his private business,
long too much neglected by reason of his public service, thoroughly
in order, and spent some time in traveling and visiting his now
numerous and widely scattered relatives. It was, too, at this time,
that an effort was made by certain parties of unprincipled men,
whom, in the prior administration of the office of First Comp
troller, he had offended by exposing and rejecting their unfounded
claims for large sums of money upon the Treasury, attempted to
give him trouble by holding him responsible in a civil suit at
court in this District. The effort, however, totally failed to affect
him in his character or reputation, and only served the more to
manifest the recklessness and unscrupulous spirit by which they
were animated.
One of the most noted of these cases was the Levy claim, for
pretended losses of many thousands of dollars during the Mexican
war, which, though long urged by all the ingenuity, persistence,
and determination of shrewd advocates and cunning and bold as
sociates, and showing a complication of testimony voluminous and

15
vexatious, he carefully sifted to the bottom, and resisted for its
injustice to the end, setting forth the grounds of his decision in a
docuineut of many pages, most carefully and elaborately prepared.
It was in this manner that, during his long career of public life,
he had established a national reputation for untiring perseverance
and scrupulous honesty. The Presidential election of 1860
brought to the head of the nation its present Chief Magistrate,
who again, in May, 18G1, called him from his retirement to re
sume the important duties of this office, which he had held so
long, and in which he continued to act though at an advanced
age, with slight interruptions, owing to the pressure of his duties
and the infirmities of years, till the very day of his death, the 7th
of January, 1863. Among the many commendations which were
issued from the public press on the occasion of this appointment,
reflecting credit alike on the President, Secretary of the Treasury,
and Comptroller, I transcribe one, which, in giving a brief outline
of his public life, says substantially, in words of perfect truth and
soberness, as follows :
"The President of the United States has recalled to the office
of Comptroller of the Treasury the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of
Ohio, and that distinguished scholar and statesman has accepted
the post of honor and responsibility assigned him. When it was
first intimated that he would be recalled, we doubted if he would
listen to it, for the reason that his increasing years had, as we
supposed, suggested to him the expediency of passing into that
comparative solitude which attends private or domestic life. The
country, however, or at least all who are conversant with the life
and character of Mr. Whittlesey, will rejoice that he has accepted
the invitation. He is a remarkable and most wonderful man. It
was he who, in the years of 1832-3, redeemed the Post Office De
partment from absolute chaos. He is endowed with talent and
genius which most admirably fit him for the office of Comptroller,
through whose hands every claim against the Government of the
United States, real and unfounded, must pass. No just claim was
ever rejected by him, and no unjust one ever succeeded in obtain
ing access to the National Treasury. Even the famous Gardiner
claim was not allowed by him, and only succeeded for a time
through the interference of a Congressional commission. He is
passionately fond of investigation ; and no problem, however com-

16
plicated or abstruse, was ever found too tedious for his inquiring
mind. If he had remained in his place during the last Adminis
tration he would unquestionably have saved the country millions
of dollars, which were stolen by the desperadoes who found their
way into the Cabinet."
And the very highest compliment, says another writer, was
paid to him in the fact that those of more lax political and finan
cial ethics long derisively styled him " the watch-dog of the Treas
ury." And yet no man was ever more careful of the character
and good name of his fellow-men, and especially of those who
were in any way connected with or employed in the Department.
An instance of this I venture here to relate. During the last
year of his life, I was led to preach a discourse on honesty,
in which I took occasion to express the dangers of public corrup
tion and official bribery in these tumultuous times ; and without
calling names, I related an instance of an audacious attempt to
bribe a public officer, which had then recently been communicated
to me, and commended the stern and more than Roman virtue of
that officer for having resented, as I was told he did, the despica
ble offer. Somehow, Mr. Whittlesey, who listened to the dis
course, received the impression that I had reference to some one
in the Department of the Treasury, and the next day I received
from him a letter, couched in terms of the greatest courtesy, affec
tion, and regard — this was always his style — in which he entered
into an explanation to show that, by the rules of the Department,
no such instance could have occurred, and that I must have been
misinformed ; and the point of his letter seemed to be an exceed
ing sensibility even to the suspicion of the possibility of such an
occurrence. I was only too glad to hasten to relieve his mind,
by informing him that the occurrence to which I alluded took
place in another Department altogether, as I was informed ; and
that if he derived the impression from my remarks in the sermon
that it had occurred in his Department, I had been unfortunate
in not making myself fully understood. His great capabilities
were thus equally exerted to prevent fraud and dishonesty in the
vile, and to repel the suspicions of it in the upright and the good.
Beside all these public labors, Mr. Whittlesey was ever a friend
of the great and noble charities which spring from the church of
God in the philanthrophic and Christian associations that tend

17
to the amelioration of the condition of mankind. Having early
in life made a public profession of the Christian faith by uniting
with the church in his adopted town ; and having ever a spirit of
generous sympathy with all that is wise and good in the great
schemes of Christian enterprise that have marked the present
ceutury, he was always ready to respond to the call of suffering
humanity, and to aid by his utmost power in its progress and
elevation. If he could not do all that his wide and genial nature
prompted to be done, he contented himself with accomplishing
whatever was practicable in a just comprehension of all the cir
cumstances. It was thus that, actuated by such motives, he early
became and ever continued a steadfast friend of the American
Colonization cause, which, whatever may be said of its present
relations to the subjects of its existence, must justly claim to
have prepared the way and laid the foundations for a better and
greater hope for the future of Africa.- He saw from the begin
ning the importance of this great work, and more than thirty
years ago he prepared and delivered a most elaborate, instructive,
and powerful address upon the whole question, which had great
influence in opening the eyes of the people, and in diffusing a
better understanding of the objects proposed throughout the
nation, and which is now treasured as one of its most valued doc
uments in the archives of the Society. And since that day he
has rendered to the cause most invaluable services, which were
duly acknowledged in the following action of the Executive
Committee :
" At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the American Coloni
zation Society, on the evening of the 9th instant, the Corresponding Sec
retary, the Rev. R. R. Gurley, announced the sudden decease of the ven
erable Elisha Whittlesey, a Vice President of this Society, for several
years chairman of the Executive Committee.
"The following resolutions were then submitted and unanimously
adopted :
" Resolved, That, in this hour of national calamity and distress, this
committee are affected by a grief not to be expressed, in the removal
from their presence and counsels of the venerable Elisha Whittlesey, so
long and so eminently devoted, in Congress and high offices of public
trust to the honor and welfare of our country, to this Society, and to
the interests of human virtue, improvement, and happiness ; and that
our consolation under the loss we sustain must be derived alone from

18
resignation to the supreme Providence in which he ever confided, and
which directed and supported him in bis varied and multiplied exertions
for mankind.
"Resolved, That the members of this committee, and the friends gen
erally of the American Colonization Society, can never cease to cherish
a warm and grateful remembrance of their departed friend for his early,
constant, zealous, and able services for this institution, (both as for
many years chairman of the Executive Committee and a Vice President
of the Society,) to the progress of which he was permitted eminently to
contribute during his long life by his writings, his counsels, his efforts,
and his prayers.
"Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be published and commu
nicated to the family of the deceased."
Nor was his interest confined to this great work of human benefi
cence alone. He carried with him a deep and earnest sympathy for
and an intelligent appreciation of the necessity and fundamental
importance of maintaining the body, the doctrine, the ordinance,
the law, the spirit, the mission of the Christian Church — and
this alike whether at home or abroad. He thus gave a most sub
stantial support to the cause of modern Christian missions — to all
sound methods of personal and social reformation — to the Bible and
Tract and Educational operations of the age. He favored all institu
tions and instrumentalities which had in view the purity of the
public morals, the religious culture and proper discipline of chil
dren, and the general improvement of the temper and tone of
the times; and through all his life he gave himself as much as
possible personally to the work of serving and maintaining the
march of a Christian civilization. Besides this he prepared
many documents on miscellaneous subjects, and lectures of popu
lar interest and concern. Among these was a historical address
delivered on the occasion of the reunion of a large circle of his
family kindred, which is replete with historical information of
the early times of our fathers. In addition to all these labors he
kept for many years a diary of current events, and a journal of
autobiography, compiling with these an immense mass of material
of the most valuable kind, on many subjects now to be found in
the voluminous manuscript and printed papers he has left behind
him. So that he probably approached as near as any other man
of his time to the well-known habit of John Quincy Adams in
recording from day to day the scenes of his experience, and the

19
subjects of his reading and observation. An affecting example
of this is to be found in the last volume of his journal, on seven
pages only of which did his hand trace the customary story
of the day. I have had it in my possession in the preparation of
this discourse. There it is, the close of the year 1862 and the
beginning of the year 1863, written in his own hand, himself
giving an account of his own rapid approach to the limits of his
earthly life, up to the very last moment until the pen dropped
from his fingers, the lamp of his evening labor was extinguished,
he gathered up his feet into his bed and in an hour was sleeping
in the slumber that knows no waking till the morning of the
resurrection. All this is so characteristic of the man and of his
departure from this world, that I venture to extract sentences
here and there from his own pen during the last days of his living
among us. I find, for example, an entry on Sunday, December
21, 1862, after his first attack, which was one week before — and
was described by him as vertigo, in which he thought himself
dying, but from which he so far recovered as to resume many of
his daily habits of life — an entry like the following :
Sunday, December 21, 1862. — Referring to myself, as he was
then unable to attend the public worship of the day, he says : " he
has the belief that the rebellion and distresses of the country are
the result of sin and the demoralization of the people ; and he ex
erts himself to convince his hearers that the remedy is repentance.
How few lay these things to heart. 0 Lord, do revive this work
among us !"
" Tuesday, December 23. — I am much better this morning. I
thank God for his goodness in the improvement of my health.
" Wednesday, December 24. — Rested very well during the night,
but feel the effects of too much talking.
" Wednesday, December 31,1862. — This is the last day of the year
1862, and I record the personal services of the Almighty toward
me and toward my family. My personal affliction is light when
compared with that of others.
" Thursday, January 1, 1863.— My thanks are due and given
to God, the Author of my being ; and although his afflictive hand
is tenderly laid upon me, to remind me I am mortal and have but
a few days remaining to prepare for an eternity that never ends,
it is a mercy, and I devoutly ask for a resignation to the divine

20
will, for that due preparation and sauctification of heart which
shall euable me to inquire, when the hour of death arrives, Oh
death where is thy sting '!"
So communing with himself each day, he lingered Friday, Sat
urday. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, January 7, 1863,
and each day wrote « page of reflections on the preceding until
the la^t. It is affecting to look at the last sentence, the last word,
the last letter, the full dot at the end and very bottom of the page,
and to know as we do that in two hours after that dot was made
his spirit had taken its flight into eternity.
The appreciation of such a man, and the sorrow at his depart
ure, was immediately manifest in the action of public bodies — in
the Department of Government to which he belonged — in resolu
tions of associations — in articles of the press — in the funeral ser
vices both in Washington and at Canfield — and in the many testi
monials of public sensibility upon the tidings of his departure
from this world.
To the suggestions in a paper which was found in his office im-
mediatelv after his death, written in his own hand and covered
with an official envelope, directed to his children, and which
appeared to have been prepared many months before, and left as
though he had already received an admonition of the coming close
of life, the funeral services were conformed and carried out. This
paper is so characteristic of the man, that I venture to introduce
it here : " Washinotos, April 20, 1862.
" My 1>eab Children : At my advanced age, I cannot reasonably expect
to live much longer on earth, and I deem it proper to leave instructions
in regard to my funeral in the event of death, and to the disposal of my
person in the event of disability.
"If I decease in JVashington, my wish is that this tabernacle of clay
be removed to Canfield, and deposited north of the monument erected to
the memory of your dear mother — my birth and death to be inscribed on
the monument. Having lived an unostentatious life, my desire is that
the funeral ceremonies and all the proceedings comport therewith.
"If I should be sick when in office, and incapacitated for transacting
business, from the happening of either event, I wish the President of the
United States to be informed of it, and that this is my resignation of the
office of Comptroller, that he conferred by the advice of the Senate.
"As our family is widely separated, if 1 should die here, I suggest to
you whether it would not be expedient to embalm my body.

"You will judge of having any other religious exercises here than
prayer and singing.
"I know that those with whom I have lived so many years in Ohio in
uninterrupted peace and harmony, will desire to pay the same respect to
my memory that I have to their deceased relatives and friends, and it is
proper that religious services be observed at Canfield.
"If in office, and from any cause unable to attend to its duties, it will
be best to take me to Canfield immediately.
"My dear children, grand-children, and great-grand-children, my
prayer is that we be prepared, through the mediation and atonement of
Christ, to appear at the judgment seat at the last day.
"Affectionately, "Elisha Whittlesey. "
I have no intention to comment on the many subjects of pro
found interest which the life of such a man suggests, much less
to attempt to pronounce an elaborate eulogy in memory of the
dead. All that can be said has already been said by others, far
better than it ever can be in my power to say it. A single extract
from a letter written to me the last week only, and without the
least idea on the part of its author that I should use it thus pub
licly, will serve to show the kind of man he was, and the impres
sion he everywhere made of the great purity, elevation, and moral
worth of his character. The writer says :
" My personal knowledge of the late Comptroller extends only
from February, 1862, to the date of his death. But during that
brief time, how full and rich are my recollections of him ! In the
course of my experience I do not remember to have been more
impressed by any man ; for, while no man could have been more
unaffected or devoid of stateliness, so to speak, no one could pos
sibly have been more dignified, or more kind and courteous. But
it has seemed to me that the influence of his example was more to
the purpose than even the admirable counsel and quiet wisdom
which fell from his lips. For whose life could possibly have been
more full of instruction than his ? And it was his consistent,
ever-reliable, honorable life, which inspired a love of industry,
order, and exemplary conduct in all who were daily associated
with him. It was impossible to be inattentive, frivolous, or disre
spectful in his presence. Habits of business with him were laws.
His punctuality was never to be questioned. The duties of his
office frequently demanded grave decisions upon questions of much

22
intricacy, involving interests of great magnitude. These decisions,
after a rigid deliberation, were given with a firmness which never
wavered. He sought out the truth, announced it, and held to it,
no matter who opposed. He acquired the reputation and almost
the fame of another Aristides."
It would be impossible for us to embrace here the numerous
testimonies which show how deeply the character and life of Mr.
Whittlesey have impressed the public mind and heart of the
nation. Nor can we fully analyze the qualities of such a charac
ter, even to our own satisfaction ; but there are some points of
especial interest and importance which we would hold up for
the regard and imitation of all our countrymen, and which can
never be too strongly urged upon the attention of American
youth — the rising element and force of coming generations.
1. There was in him great simplicity and dignity of manner.
As has been well said none were more affable and kind, yet no
one felt like trifling in his presence. Such an urbanity and sweet
dignity flowed from him always, that every one approaching him
immediately felt the air of it, and partook of the spirit of it.
2 There was in him a deep sense of justice and equity. How
pure was his work and how firm was his purpose to maintain the
right. Probably no man ever lived in this nation that excelled
him in these particulars. Hence confidence in him was un
bounded. His honesty passed into a proverb long before the
mission of his life had closed.
3. He had a wonderful faculty for system, order, punctuality,
and industry. All these qualities he daily illustrated down to
the most minute details of life. And while he was every day
doing great and solemn things in which the very honor and life
of his country were involved, he walked in the pleasant garments
of all kindly courtesies and all gentle amenities. It was often
surprising to me how he could find time to do so much, and
whence he had strength of body and mind for so many years day
by day to be always at his word, and always where he had
before arranged to be.
4. Whatever he did he did from principle, which filled him with
a powerful sense of individual responsibility. When he assumed
any relation in life he did it with a full purpose to fulfill all its
obligations to the end. He did not believe in empty covenants

23
and idle promises. His engagements carried with them all there
was of him to fulfill them ; often when he could not be at the
meetings of the church — by reason of providential hindrance —
although his domicil and his church connection had never been
transferred to this city, yet he took pains to send or make the
explanation of his absence. It was a remarkable feature of his
character, and as rare as it is remarkable. It ran through his
whole life in all his social and public experience — as son, brother,
husband, father, advocate, captain, church member, legislator,
auditor, comptroller, member of this organization and of that —
he held himself under obligations of duty, and when for any
reason failing to fulfill it, he held himself accountable to his asso
ciates. In the use of all his faculties of body and mind, of all
his possessions, offices, influence, and regard among men, he never
forgot that he was a steward of God, and as such must render a
faithful account of all that had been entrusted to him.
5. His nature was a deep fountain of the utmost tenderness,
flowing from a mind and heart as firm as adamant in its sense of
right and the determination to maintain it. And all this was en
riched by a sound intellect, varied information, and long experi
ence. So that he comprehended in deed the threefold names of
the well known epigram of praise. He was truly " a gentleman,
a scholar, and a Christian." He was all this during the period of
my acquaintance with him. I knew him only in his last years,
and often thought of him as of a rare old man — the type of that
manhood which we read of in the records of elder days — and one
of the few links that bind us to the mighty generation of great
and good men in the past.
6. But with all his virtues and amenities of life, nothing went
deeper into his whole nature than his simple, earnest, cloudless,
beautiful Christian faith. This was the chord, that once struck
vibrated to the sweetest and holiest accents of his being. Often
at the name of Christ his eye would fill with tears, and his voice
pause while the heart was too full for utterance. In the pious
and patriotic devotion of his life, probably no man of his gener
ation surpassed him. He loved the church, he loved his country,
and gloried as a Christian statesman in all the triumphs of the
one, and in all the prosperity of the other.
.And in these respects what a legacy has he bequeathed, not

24

only to his children and immediate family kindred, but to the
Church of God on earth and the American nation. How bright
is the page that contains his history, how unsullied the name and
how pure the life that now he furnishes for the imitation of all
who survive him. His name cannot be forgotten. The memory
of the just is blessed, and the righteous shall be held in everlast
ing remembrance.