Mr. Chief Justice, one may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but he must die as a man. The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality; to the intense contemplation of that deepest and most solemn of all relations, the relation between the creature and his Creator. Here it is that fame and renown cannot assist us; that all external things must fail to aid us; that even friends, affection, and human love and devotedness, cannot succor us. This relation, the true foundation of all duty, a relation perceived and felt by conscience and confirmed by revelation, our illustrious friend, now deceased, always acknowledged.
He reverenced the Scriptures of truth, honored the pure morality which they teach, and clung to the hopes of future life which they impart. He beheld enough in nature, in himself, and in all that can be known of things seen, to feel assured that there is a Supreme Power, without whose providence not a sparrow falleth to the ground. To this gracious being he entrusted himself for time and for eternity; and the last words of his lips ever heard by mortal ears were a fervent supplication to his Maker to take him to himself. [[2]]
Biographical.
First Period: Law and Politics in New Hampshire.
| 1782 | Born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, January 18. Early Education. |
| 1797 | Enters Dartmouth College. |
| 1805 | Admitted to the Bar, |
| 1805. | Practises in Boscawen. |
| 1807 | Removes to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. |
| 1813 | Elected to Congress from Portsmouth. |
| 1814-15 | The Hartford Convention. |
Second Period: Leader at the Bar and in the Forum.
| 1816 | Removes to Boston, Massachusetts. |
| 1817 | "The Defence of the Kennistons." |
| 1818 | "The Dartmouth College Case." |
| 1820 | Massachusetts Convention. |
Third Period: Expounder and Defender of the Constitution.
| 1827 | Elected to the Senate from Massachusetts. |
| 1830 | "The Reply to Hayne." |
| 1833 | "The Constitution not a Compact between Sovereign States." |
| 1833-34 | Removal of the Deposits from the United States Bank. Rise of the Whig Party. |
| 1835 | Nominated to the Presidency by the Whigs of Massachusetts. |
| 1837 | Reception in New York. |
| 1839 | Visits England. |
| 1840 | Presidential Canvass. |
| 1840-43 | Secretary of State. Ashburton Treaty. Resigns the Department of State. |
| 1844 | Re-elected to the Senate from Massachusetts. |
| 1845 | "Eulogy on Justice Story." Annexation of Texas. |
| 1846 | Banquet in Philadelphia. |
| 1850 | Seventh of March Speech. Secretary of State under President Fillmore. |
| 1852 | Public Reception in Boston. Last Illness and Death. |