[From the Norfolk Argus, of May 8, 1860.]
The funeral obsequies of Mr. Tazewell, yesterday, were solemn and impressive. An appropriate address was delivered by Rev. Mr. Rodman, of Christ church, and a large concourse of persons followed the remains from the family mansion on Granby street to the wharf, whence they were taken to the Eastern Shore for interment.
Thus a very great man has passed away from our midst—a man who was long and justly honored for his profound learning; surpassed by few, if any, in any country. His mind was an immense and well-stored intellectual repository, whence intelligence, varied, rich, and valuable, was drawn at pleasure or as occasion required. Powerful as an orator, brilliant as a writer, scarcely equalled in his knowledge of the great principles of law, his irresistible grasp of intellect astonished thousands in former days—bright and clear as "the cloudless azure of the upper sky."
The proceedings of the meeting of the members of the bar were very appropriate. All the addresses were eloquent and impressive. The speakers aptly mentioned his splendid and successful career as a lawyer, his wonderful legal acquirements, and irresistible eloquence. One of the gentlemen alluded to the fact that the merchant princes of London and the priests of Rome were among those who sought his opinion upon great and important questions, that had puzzled the astute statesmen of other countries.
The last survivor of a noble intellectual triumvirate, of which Norfolk could boast for a time, surpassing the models of antiquity in power and splendor of forensic triumph, has passed away. That triumvirate is now demolished. Taylor, Wirt, and Tazewell have all passed away; this last and most polished shaft now dimmed—Tazewell—just now gone to the grave, "venerable with the ivy of age, and eloquent of greater than classic memories."
To state more particularly the details of the funeral, for future reference—the religious services were held at the family residence on Granby street, and a large number of our most respectable citizens were present on the occasion. Among them were three of our adopted fellow-citizens, who had been on terms of friendly intercourse with the deceased for nearly sixty years, and who walked from their respective abodes in the city to pay the last act of respect to his memory. The eldest of these venerable men, George McIntosh, Esq., was in his ninety-second year, and the others, William H. Thomson, Esq., and John Southgate, Esq., were over eighty years. When the religious services were ended, a procession was formed, and the hearse was escorted to the steamer Northampton, Captain McCarrick, and the coffin was placed on board. The steamer then left for the county of Northampton, across the bay of Chesapeake, having on board the Rev. Mr. Rodman and the Rev. Dr. Okeson, of the Episcopal church, John N. Tazewell, Esq., the only surviving son of the deceased, three of the daughters of Mr. Tazewell, a number of his grandchildren, the bar of Norfolk and its vicinity, and many of our most venerable fellow-citizens. From accident, the steamer did not reach the landing-place on the opposite shore till nearly dusk, and when the corpse was taken on shore the night had gathered in, and the burial service was read by candle-light. The last scene was one of deep and impressive solemnity.
The vault, which was made only large enough to receive the coffin, was composed of solid slabs of granite united by hydraulic cement, five feet below the surface, and was covered by another slab of granite. The vault was then covered with earth, and was ready to receive the monument, which is soon to be erected. The grave was in an enclosure bounded by iron rails, and containing the tombs of Mrs. Tazewell, the wife of the deceased, of Henry Tazewell, Esq., his eldest son, and of Littleton Waller Tazewell, Esq., his youngest son. The burial-ground is on the estate of King's creek, which was given by the deceased to his son, John N. Tazewell, Esq., who still owns it, and which holds the remains of a number of the ancestors of Mrs. Tazewell—this last circumstance having led to its selection as a place of sepulchre for the family.
It was the public wish that the body of Mr. Tazewell should be deposited in one of the beautiful cemeteries of Norfolk, a city with which his name had been so long connected, and where the stranger would naturally seek his grave, and, I may add, where the lesson of such a pure and illustrious life might be read in the course of the year by thousands of his countrymen; but the peculiar circumstances of the case rendered the scheme impracticable. I must, however, still indulge the hope that, hereafter, when the insecurity of graves on private estates, so signally represented by our Virginia experience, is fully considered, the descendants of this great man may in due time consent to the removal of his remains and those of the family to some more accessible and less exposed situation.