XII PKOCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



without desiring to intrude upon the private grief of his family, they wish to express 

 to them their share in their sorrow. 



Resolved, That this minute be entered as a part of the journal of the Board and a 

 copy be transmitted to the family of Senator Morrill. 



Ex-Senator Henderson said: 



I feel a personal loss in the death of Senator Morrill, whom I had known somewhat 

 intimately from 1862, and with whom I had been associated, more or less, in public 

 life, when I was a young man. 



He continued: 



Mr. Chancellor, the deceased statesman, Mr. ]\lorrill, is now perfectly secure in 

 his well-earned fame. It was said by one of the Latin poets that no man should be 

 esteemed happy before his funeral. In this case the sad rites have been performed, 

 and to the end of a most useful life he kept the faith. 



In his career we have an illustration of the beauty and excellency of our repub- 

 lican institutions. His education w^as limited, but his honesty and patriotism had no 

 bounds. He did what conscience dictated to l)e done and put his trust in those he 

 served. He loved, not license, Imt liberty as defined by Cicero, "the power to do 

 what the law permits." He was true to his constituents, and in return they gave 

 him those priceless gifts of freemen — their gratitude and fidelity. 



He represented a State small in population and wealth, but rich in the character 

 of its people and rich in the long line of able, pure, and distinguished statesmen 

 she has given to the national councils. The horizon of his usefulness, like that of 

 Collamer, Foote, and Edmunds, extended beyond the State of Vermont. He was 

 broad as the Union itself. 



From 1855 to 1867 he was a member of the House of Representatives. In ISCl 

 private industries had become prostrated and bankrujitcy threatened the National 

 Treasury. Secession had already connnenced the work of dissolution when he pre- 

 pared and pressed to enactment the tariff laws of that year. Waiving the question 

 of protection, the necessity for revenue alone demanded its passage, and the benefi- 

 cent results gave national reputation to its author. He came to the Senate in 

 1867, and continued a member of that body until the date of his death, having re- 

 ceived six successive elections by the legislature of his State. In the Senate he stood 

 at all times for a sound currency. He had deplored the original issue of United 

 States notes in 1862, and, true to his convictions f)f right, in after j'ears he consist- 

 entl}^ demanded the performance of the nation's pledge that they be redeemed and 

 canceled. He believed with all his heart that the gold dollar should measure values 

 throughout the commercial world, and, unmoved by the clamors of hard times, he 

 persevered in his faith until the fulfillment of his proj)hecies has broken the stubborn 

 unbelief of millions. 



Through his efforts the statues of distinguished Amerii-ans now adorn the old rep- 

 resentative hall of the Capitol, where his own so well deserves to be |)laced. 



Largely through his exertions came the building constructed for the State, War, 

 and Navy Departments, and the last legislative act of his life was to provide a build- 

 ing for the use of the Supreme Court of the United »States. To us who knew him 

 so well it brings profound pleasure that he lived to see the Library building com- 

 pleted, which not only in its purposes but in the splendor of its architecture does 

 honor to the nation. Somewhere within its walls a modest tablet should at least 

 connect his name with this magnificent structure. It is no less a monument to his 

 memory thai\ is St. Paul's Cathedral to the memory of Sir Christopher Wren. 



For the last eighteen years he was a Regent of this Institution, ever watchful of 

 its interests and prompt to increase its usefulness. In the grandeur of his country 

 he felt the patriot's i)ride. He sought to make its capital city worthy of the people 



