4

  It is God who calls us to be great, in all that distinguishes the race
which He has made in His own image. It is God who requires us to do
great things for a world which He so loved that He gave His only begotten
Son that it might not perish.
                                   ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE.


  And now, Senators, we leave this memorable chamber bearing with us,
unimpaired the Constitution we received from our forefathers. Let us
cherish it with grateful acknowledgment to the Divine Power who con-
trols the destinies of empires, and whose goodness we adore.  The
structures reared by men yield to the corroding tooth of time. These
marble walls must moulder into dust; but the principles of constitutional
liberty, guarded by wisdom and virtue, unlike material elements, do not
decay. Let us devoutly trust that another Senate, in another age, shall
bear to a new and larger chamber this Constitution vigorous and inviolate,
and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of
the Representatives of American States still united, prosperous, and free.
                                     JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE.