‘Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines, Shrines to no creed or code confined; The Delphian vales, the Palestines, The Meccas of the mind.’
Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolutions:
_Resolved_, That the House of Representatives of the United States has received with the deepest sensibility, intelligence of the death of Henry Clay.
_Resolved_, That the officers and members of the House of Representatives will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days, as a testimony of the profound respect this house entertains for the memory of the deceased.
_Resolved_, That the officers and members of the House of Representatives, in a body, will attend the funeral of Henry Clay, on the day appointed for that purpose by the senate of the United States.
_Resolved_, That the proceedings of this house, in relation to the death of Henry Clay, be communicated to the family of the deceased by the clerk.
_Resolved_, That as a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, this house do now adjourn.
Mr. EWING rose, and said: A noble heart has ceased to beat for ever. A long life of brilliant and self-devoted public service is finished at last. We now stand at its conclusion, looking back through the changeful history of that life to its beginning, contemporaneous with the very birth of the republic, and its varied events mingle, in our hearts and our memories, with the triumphs and calamities, the weakness and the power, the adversity and prosperity of a country we love so much. As we contemplate this sad event, in this place, the shadows of the past gather over us; the memories of events long gone crowd upon us, and the shades of departed patriots seem to hover about us, and wait to receive into their midst the spirit of one who was worthy to be a cölaborer with them in a common cause, and to share in the rewards of their virtues. Henceforth he must be to us as one of them.
They say he was ambitious. If so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously has he answered it. He has found in it naught but disappointment. It has but served to aggravate the mortification of his defeats, and furnish an additional lustre to the triumph of his foes. Those who come after us may――ay, they will――inquire why his statue stands not among the statues of those whom men thought ablest and worthiest to govern.