8 Benjamin Silliman. 
=. generation. The very house which he occupied has bed 
istoric, reflecting in its arrangements, its family portr. 
its caries mementos of absent friends, and its sone shelves 
of books, the controlling mind which has dwelt ther 
In the neighborhood and town where he resided, Mr. Sillienaae a 4 
was peculiarly beloved and respected, “New Haven will not 
be New Haven without him,” said more than one of his assvei- 
ates, as he heard of his death. His hand was always open to the — 
needy. He was given to hospitality. He frequently took part — 
in public meetings, and was actively concerned in all questions — 
of local improvement. He rarely, if ever, failed to discharge — 
his duties as a citizen at the polls, and was "always ready to ex- — 
is Opinions On questions of public policy. : 
A whole-souled patriot, he viewed with the deepest interest 
the complications brought into the affairs of the country by the — 
system of slavery. His general benevolence ever led him to © 
sympathize with the oppressed, and the wrongs of the African — 
touched him deeply. We cannot better indicate his feelings on — 
this subject than by quoting a few sentences from his private — 
journal under the date of April, 1850. After mentioning the — 
death of the champion of what have been called ‘‘Southern — 
Seslts,”. John C. Calhoun, his former pupil and an he gives 
a soe sketch of his character, concluding as follow 
“His public career has been highly distinguished. ee is, however, — 
very much to be regretted that he, many years ago, narrowed down his — 
great mind to sectional views, and that he became morbidly sensitive ~~ 2 
jealous of encroachment as regards the South, especially in reference to 
the protective tariff and to slavery. The former prompted his efforts for 
nullification, and the latter excited him to a vindication of slavery in the — 
abstract. He, in a great measure, changed the state of opinion and the q 
manner of speaking and writing upon this subject in the South, until we — 
have come to present to the world the mortifying and disgraceful specta- 
cle of a great republic—and the only real republic in the world—stand- — 
ing forth in vindication of slavery, without prospect of, or a wish for, its — 
extinction. If the views of Mr. Calhoun, and of those who’ think with 
him, are to prevail, slavery is to be sustained on this great continent for- 
ever. I will not occupy my pages with any extended remarks upon this — 
subject which i pep agitating the national ecuinetay and to a degree the 
nation itself. * * Tt [the great question] is in better hands than 
‘man’s; and [ trust oe the colored men of all races on this conti- 
nent will be received into the great human family as rational hehe om 
as heirs of imm aia’ 
As soon as the atrocities in Kansas revealed the determina- 
tion of the wavecnes of slavery to pe et and ee ie 
u a heed . oi ial Raita 
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