5



   I had thought, sir, it would be happiness enough to breathe
 the free air and tread the green sod of my native State once
 moore; to look abroad over the glorious scenery of this good-
 ly laud, the pride and glory of all lands; to gaze upon the
 familiar countenances of friends and kindred, and behold the
 classmates and the pupils of my earlier days proudly vindi-
 cating the promise of their youth, filling the highest offices of
 the State, presiding on the bench of Justice, and in the halls
 of Legislation.
   I had thought I should love with you to live, amongst you
to die; that "the clods of the valley would lie sweeter"
above my remains if they only slumbered near to kindred
dust; and that even the morning of the resurrection would
appear more glorious to me if, amidst the glories of that
ecstatic vision, my opening eyes might first rest upon the
countenauces of those whom I had loved below. But to re-
ceive such a welcome, and from such a source, and amidst
this crowded audience of my countrymen; the tongue falters,
and words fail to express the depih of my emotions.
   But amidst the pressure of the urgent business of life,
and the stern demands of duty, brief space is left us for the
indulgence of feeling, even the mninliest and noblest. Let
us turn, then, to the consideration of those solemn interests
and high trusts which hvie been committed to our guardian-
ship. and for whose especial consideration we are met to-day.
  The causes that mould the character and decide the destiny
of nations do not lie upon the surface. They are the inward
fires, deep-seated in the bosom of the earth, and not the
showers which fall, or the tempests which beat upon its sur-
face, that have heaved up its mighty mountains and sunk its
valleys, and hollowed out its water courses, and given to the
whole ace of external nature its varied aspects of beauty and
of grandeur. So the soucres of a nation's permanent pros-
perity and glory must be sought, not in the form of its gov-
ernment, in the wisdom of its administration, in its written