SPEECH

DELIVERED IN RESPONSE TO A PUBLIC SERENADE, AT WILLARD'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C., THE EVENING OF May

1857.

[The Washington State noticed the occasion as follows: "The eminent leader of the New York Democracy is at present in this city. He has been absent six years from the scene, in the foreground of which his manly virtues and Democratic integrity stand prominent in connection with some of the most important political and national questions and movements of our time. Coming here in a private capacity, his hotel has been visited by numerous public gentlemen, anxious to pay the unbending Democratic citizen the debt of intellectual gratitude which must remain due for all time to the stability and eloquence of the Senator.

"The following is the report of the ex-Senator's remarks on his introduction to the public by Dr. Everett, on the occasion of his being serenaded at Willard's Hotel, where an immense throng had assembled to look upon and pay their respects to the 'old man eloquent.'"]

MY FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS-I can make no return for this testimonial of regard for a private citizen, but the sincere tribute of a grateful heart.

Upon the expiration of my term as a Senator in Congress, more than six years since, I returned to my home with more pleasing anticipations than I had left it, and I have since been devoted to professional and rural pursuits, with no interval of relaxation. Finding that a few days could be borrowed from accustomed avocations, I came with that portion of my household which a Providence that "doeth all things well" has spared to me, and a party of family friends, to revisit the political metropolis, and indulge the train of sad and pleasing memories which the changeful currents of life have presented for our contemplation. We came to see again the place where we had reared our children, where we had formed life-long

friendships, where we had enjoyed a generous hospitality and a sweet social communion, where we had been associated with those who have gone to their rewards and repose--the illustrious dead; where we have so long and so faithfully been sustained and cheered by the valued and confiding friends who have remembered us in our seclusion and come hither to cheer and honor us again with their kindly greetings.

We have seen again that venerated Senate Chamber, so filled with stirring recollections, and bethought us of the once familiar voices which are now hushed forever. We have seen again the ancient Capitol, extending in its mighty magnificence and architectural grandeur to meet the increasing demands of a great and growing people; the early golden sunshine which we loved in other days beams again; the same spacious parks, the familiar walks, the babbling fountains, the spreading trees, the shaded lawns, the green sunny slopes, the bright blooming flowers, and the glorious Potomac, are all here, and lift up their voices with numerous smiling friends to bid us welcome.

On every hand evidences are rising up, as if by magic, of increased wealth, enterprise, refinement and taste, rendering Washington worthy of the consecrated name it bears-worthy to be the federal capital of a great family of free and independent States. That it may remain such forever is my ardent prayer; that every State may come here to mingle in the family communion, with her sovereign, independent equality of right; that all may meet together, like children of a common father, in the true spirit of the Constitution, and prosecute together their benign mission of liberty on earththe freedom, equality, and self-government of man.

In the humble public career to which allusion has been so kindly made, it was my highest ambition to sacrifice upon the altar of my country my choicest offerings. O, would that, in a cause so sacred, I had other and worthier gifts to bestow. What that public course was, let history tell. I will only add, that were my course upon the absorbing questions of that day to be repeated, it would only be changed by pursuing the same subjects, in the same direction and in the same manner, with such increased force as a more abundant reflection and enlarged experience would enable me to command.

Our country is enjoying unexampled prosperity, and our people command repose from causeless agitation, either domestic or foreign. The fires of fanaticism at home are burning themselves out for lack of fuel, and a great, brave, and intrepid people are satisfied that they can better advance the blessings of civilization and Christianity by cultivating the arts of peace than by resort to the sword.

An executive chief has recently been inaugurated to discharge the most honorable relations on earth, in whose wisdom, and in that of those he has chosen as his constitutional advisers, the great mass of the American people, in every section of the Union, have entire confidence-confidence that justice, firmness, and moderation will characterize our intercourse with other nations—that the integrity of the Union will be preserved in the spirit of the Constitution, the rights of sovereign States maintained inviolate, and the people in the Territories secured in the dearest privileges of the American citizen, good order and the constitutional guaranty of true self-gov

ernment.

No one has ever fully estimated the moral influences of the people of Washington upon the destinies of this country through the social relations of life; nor told how many sectional prejudices have been thus mitigated, how many errors corrected, how many lasting, valued friendships have been formed. And may this gentle, genial influence continue to diffuse its blessings throughout the entire Confederacy, and continue to strengthen the bonds of fraternal feeling which make a multitude one. May every star in the constellation shed its radiance upon every other; and may they vie with one another hereafter only in brightness and glory.

For myself and family and friends, I thank you cordially for the honor extended us, and shall look back upon it hereafter as one of the bright passages upon the page of life's his tory. We shall return to our homes pleased and gratified with our brief visit, remembering that our lives have fallen here in pleasant places, and among such friends as few have ever had.

ADDRESS

TO THE JURY IN BEHALF OF THE PRISONER, ON THE TRIAL OF JOHN M. THURSTON, AT THE TIOGA OYER AND TERMINER, OWEGO, N. Y., October 18, 1857. DEFENCE, INSANITY.

[The jury rendered a verdict of guilty of murder, which was reversed on appeal to the Supreme Court, and a new trial ordered, upon which, at Ithaca, Tompkins County, the prisoner was acquitted by reason of insanity, and sent to the Asylum for the Insane at Utica.]

MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT, GENTLEMEN OF THE JURYWhen a worthy and esteemed citizen is cut off in the prime of his usefulness, by an act of violence and blood, and with startling suddenness, the mind is ordinarily disqualified from judging dispassionately of the causes which incited to and produced it. Deeply impressed with this obvious truth, the counsel and friends of this unfortunate prisoner saw you take your seats in the jury-box, many of you declaring that you had formed opinions against him. You were admitted, nevertheless, to sit in the case, because we had confidence in the truth and justice of our defence, and in your purity and integrity. You were selected from the great body of your fellows, because we believed you could rise above prejudice and rumor, and, laying aside preconceived opinions. and unfavorable impressions, hear the cause patiently and render a verdict therein, in pursuance of the oaths you have taken, according to evidence. Your position is most fearfully responsible. You hold in your hands the mighty issues of life and death, and must answer to mankind, to your own consciences, and to a just God above us, of the deliverance you here make. Upon the happening of this unfortunate occurrence the people of this community manifested a feeling worthy of themselves and of their law-abiding character; worthy of their par

entage, their New England origin. They saw that human life had been taken by an act of violence, and they moved with becoming alacrity to secure investigation according to law. The numerous and highly respectable friends of this stricken man find their slender means arrayed against the strength of the most powerful State in the confederacy; yet they fear not, for they have heard you pledge your oaths before God and man to give a verdict according to evidence, uninfluenced by other considerations.

The prosecution against an individual charged with crime is conducted at the public expense. A public prosecutor is provided in every county, who is paid from the local treasury, and in cases when the Governor shall believe the cause of public justice requires it, he may send the Attorney-General of the State to conduct the trial in person. In this case, although the District Attorney is himself a lawyer of ripe years and extensive knowledge, and has presided over courts where he now stands at the bar; although two distinguished local counsellors are found associated with him to quicken his vigilance and supply contingencies, yet all this is not deemed sufficient for the pursuit of this man, and those having it in charge have passed by the first law officer of the State, and invoked and procured one of a more enlarged experience to aid in attempting to procure a conviction. Of all this we do not complain, unusual as it would seem to be, but assert again our entire ability, against all this preparation, to show from the evidence that this prisoner is not guilty. Here, in this community, was this sanguinary deed committed; here was its perpetrator arrested and presented for trial; here arose that feeling which has caused this effort to bring to condign punishment, and here will a verdict of acquittal be hailed with gratification and éclat by every one who respects the administration of justice, when they see that such result is in harmony with the spirit of the law.

But a few years since a man named Lawrence attempted to take the life of General Jackson, then President of the United States, while attending the funeral of a member of Congress at the Capitol. This illustrious man, at that time, it will be well recollected, was sustained by warmer friends and assailed by more vindictive enemies than any other indi