JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 101 



the United States will long be remembered and bigbly appreciated by 

 l)osterity. 



Eesolued, That the Secretary cause a copy of these resolutions to be 

 transmitted to the relatives of the deceased. 



])r. Parker then made the following remarks : 



Mr. Chancellor: Fitting encomiums upon the late Vice President have 

 already been pronounced, both in the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives of the United States, and, so far as I am informed, with an una- 

 nimity of appreciation, irrespective of all lines of demarkation, truly re- 

 markable; and the pen and the press, not only in this but also in every 

 civilized countr3', will set forth his just merits in appropriate panegyric. 

 Eesides, this is neither the place nor the occasion for extended eulogy, 

 yet 1 desire brief indulgence. 



The late Vice-President was my personal friend, and the proximity of 

 our summer residences facilitated the exchange of social and friendly 

 intercourse. It was my privilege also to see him in his last illness. 



The prominent characteristics of Mr. Wilson, his humble origin, indi- 

 gence, limited means of early education, the resolute determination by 

 which he surmounted difficulties and rose to great distinction ; his suc- 

 cess in the attainment of lofty aspirations, even surpassing some of his 

 contemporaries who had the greater advantages of classical and profes- 

 sional learning, are too well known to require repetition. 



I wish, however, to recall very concisely only two of his distinguish- 

 ing traits. 



As a means to an end, Mr. Wilson was emulous of high positions that 

 he might render it promotive of the best interests of the country, and of 

 all classes composing it, especially the poor and the enslaved. 



Whilst sincere in his practice and advocacy of temperance, in his de- 

 nunciation of slavery, and his expressions of sympathy for the laborer. 

 he had the sagacity to use these as means to the attainment of the 

 coveted positions of high office and national influence. He was emulous 

 also of distinguished place not only for its utility in the present, but 

 still more so in reference to the future. I remember well his emphatic 

 remark when the intelligence was received of the death of the eminent 

 historian Prescott: "JT had rather live, as Frcscotf will lire, in history, 

 than he President of the United States.''^ 



Here maybe found, I think, the predominating influence that urged 

 liim on in the completion of his historical work; with an all-absorbing 

 devotion that far exceeded his physical and mental strength, and but 

 for which, humanly speaking, he might be with us still. 



Tlie other prominent characteristic to which I wish simi)ly to advert 

 is, in his later years, his truly religious life. No one intimately ac- 

 quainted with Mr. Wilson subsequently to his public profession of re- 

 ligion can doubt the genuineness of his Christian faith. 



The hymn which he rosc^ from his sick-pillow to mark at three o'clock 

 in the morning, only a lew bonis bciore breathing his last, as though 



