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Independence and national happiness. As public benefactors, none have been more bountiful, none more disinterested. Let us equal, if we can, their love and magnanimity-Let their merits be traced on adamant-their errors on the sands of the lonely beach.

But it was not on the theatre of politics alone, that they acted so well their parts. The reputation which they acquired in the discharge of their public duties, was amply sustained by the great respectability of their private lives. Their moral characters were unimpeachable. Guided in their intércourse with the social world, by the same correct judgment and love of justice, which characterised their writings, and governed their official actions, they were eminently distinguished through life, by the prudence, the purity, and the dignified propriety of their conduct. A love of business and useful employment, was one of their ruling passions, in every condition of life. It raised them to eminence, in literature, science, and politics; and enabled them to leave to the world extensive chronicles of those eventful times, which established a new era in the relations of man. They knew not-they asked not, to rest from their labors. Every minute of the

morning, and the meridian of their glorious day, was appropriated to the calls of their country; and the leisure, which they enjoyed in the evening, was devoted to schemes of social improvement in their respective neighborhoods, and to great public undertakings for the cultivation of the rising genius of their land. This love of employment, tempered with discretion, and united to eminent talents, and inflexible integrity-while it secured, to the last, their own relish of lifewas remarkably calculated to endear them to their friends, and to render them enviable members of any society to which they belonged. Accordingly, there have been no men more universally respected by those who knew them intimately; more sincerely esteemed in the circle of their acquaintance, or more tenderly beloved by those who enjoyed the blessings of their private and domestic connection. If you would know

their standing as neighbors, go to the vicinities of Monticello and Quincy-go ask of the tears that still moisten their graves, As husbands, their affection and love were proverbial. As fathers, let that child of sorrow, who was willed to her country, speak in behalf of an idolized parent-and let him who fills the high station of a Nation's Chief Magistrate, tell what the watchful tenderness of a sire may do for his son.

Thus far, I have felt it my duty to review them together :For a while, I must speak of them separately.

Mr. Jefferson was a man, designed by nature to fill a bright and instructive page in the world's history.-And, not by titles, by fortune, or by birth-right power-but by means, alone, of his own solid worth, he has gloriously fulfilled his desti

ny.

With every thing that is noble, beautiful, grand, or sublime, in the character and institutions of his country-his name is inseparably associated. As soon as the laws of the land would permit his native Colony to avail herself of his light, he rose resplendently from obscurity-and thence, until he calmly sunk below the horizon of his temporal career, he shined a star of the first magnitude-never eclipsed-seldom clouded.

In every station to which he was called, he distinguished himself for zeal, integrity, unwavering firmness-and more than requisite aptitude. The first signs of Liberty in the South, and the Bill of Rights, and the Statute-Book of his State; the Journals of local and general legislation ;--the most delicate and difficult International Negociations;—the Constitution of his country;-the Rules and Regulations of parliamentary procedure;—the great measures of Economy and Pacification, which enabled us afterwards to triumph in the second war of Independence;--the annals of Philosophy, Science, and the Arts; and that imperishable Declaration, which lives the nucleus of universal freedom-all-all, bear, in distinct characters, the impress of his wonderful mind.

I will not fatigue you with a recital of details, already familiar to you; but a glance at the causes of his distinction may not be amiss.

He was endowed with an extraordinary power of intense reflection-a spirit of profound and patient investigation-an acuteness in the discovery of truth, and a perspicuity in its developement, of which the world has witnessed but few examples. Possessing a mind well balanced in itself, by the nice proportion and adjustment of its faculties, he never inclined to those eccentricities, either of opinion or of action, which is too often the lot of exalted genius. Free from all tincture of envy, hatred, or malice-he delighted in the prosperity of his companions, and in the fame, even of those, who, by the world, were considered his rivals.

The history of man, of nations, and of nature--natural philosophy--mathematics-and above all, experience--the great fountain of wisdom, were the sources from which he drew his mighty knowledge. Nothing that was worth knowing, was indifferent to him. No wealth, no political advancement, no ambition of fame, had the least charm for him, when compared with his desire to elevate the character and happiness of his country, and to discover and develope the immutable principles of truth-applying those principles to every relation of man, and encouraging all around him to disenthral themselves from doctrines not based upon reason, and to exercise their own powers of reflection; for despotism, whether philosophical, political, or religious, was odious in his sight.

Sensible of the estimation in which he was held by his countrymen, he dwelt on the thought of his successful career, with a satisfaction which he did not affect to conceal. He spoke, with exultation, of his agency in prohibiting the further importation of slaves; in abolishing entails, and the principle of primogeniture; and in the successful attack upon the establishment of a dominant religion. But, of all the services which he had rendered his country or State, he seemed to dwell upon none with more enthusiastic delight, than upon

those connected with the University of Virginia. "I claim," he said, "some share in the merit of this great work of regeneration. My whole labors, for many years, have been devoted to it, and I stand pledged to follow it up through the remnant of life remaining to me." And faithfully he did. He not only founded and directed the progress of the institution, but he assumed, with promptness, the arduous duties of the Rector; and the stability of his habits, the universality of his acquirements, the gentleness of his manners, the benignity of his disposition, and that warm interest in the happiness of others, which led him so constantly to promote it—were qualities which eminently fitted him for the station.

I have often listened with rapture to the narratives of those who have seen the Philosopher in the midst of his youthful friends. In this society, he appeared entirely to forget that he had once wielded the destinies of the freest, the happiest, and, in every other respect than physical power, the greatest nation on earth. He entered into cheerful conversation, with such as could overcome the diffidence-produced by their awful veneration for his character and years-and, like another Socrates, let none depart without some new acquisition to his treasure of knowledge-and some new impression of the vast importance of imitating his bright example. His mind was wholly absorbed in this favorite employment. No fatigue was too great for him, and no financial impediment could damp his ardor. By patience and perseverance, ingenuity and argument—he gradually obtained the means necessary to the accomplishment of his work; and with all the care, research and reflection, that he would have bestowed upon the Constitution of an Empire--he drew up a Code of Laws for its Government, and secured for it a successful operation, and a profound respect.

How abundantly gratifying to philanthropy is the contemplation of a well regulated mind, enlarged by knowledge, kindled by genius, and lighted up with virtue--directing its powerful energies to the good of man through the intellectual

improvement of the rising generation. No man better knew than Mr. Jefferson the incalculable advantages of education. He had scrutinized its influence in the developement and direction of our moral and intellectual faculties, and was aware that it was the principal source of his own usefulness. It is education, indeed, which teaches man to respect the voice of reason, and follow her as the guide of his conduct--reminds him of the necessities of subordination to government laws, and expands his selfish feelings into virtuous patriotismunites him with friends, and the great family of mankind, and swells his bosom with the purest benevolence. It exalts his thoughts to another world, and gives constancy to his virtues amidst the trials of life, and a serenity to his mind amidst its evils. It is, in a word, the mainspring of power and pre-eminence the bulwark of our happiness--the palladium of our liberties. It was the opinion of Madam De Stael—as expressed to our distinguished fellow-citizen, Henry Clay, that "a people who have received the benefits of the lights of education, never can be conquered--though assailed by the united powers of the earth; for the mind, when enriched and expanded-spurns the prowess of the despot, and looking forward with elevated eye, beholds its own greatness, and laughs at the puny assaults of the ignorant invader." "A nation, uneducated," said this accomplished woman—“ never can be free"--and never was a remark more substantially true for whithersoever we turn our eyes we behold its verification. No wonder, then, that such a man as Jefferson should have given the remnant of his life to the establishment of a University--and that in his last hour, he should have breathed the warmest aspirations for its prosperity.

So lived, my fellow-citizens, the Sage of Monticello.And when the glorious day, on which he wished to die, arrived--he exclaimed---"I have done for mankind all that I could: I now resign my soul, without fear, to my God-and my daughter to my country."—And the angel of death bore him away to the mansions of eternal bliss.

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