^ PROCEEDINGS AND SPEECHES ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEATH HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE, OF" m:issoxji^i. In the House of Representatives of the Confederate States, on the 18th of April, 1863. RICHMOND: 8MITU, BAILKY & CO., PEINTERS. 1803. George Washington Flowers Memorial Collection DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ESTABLISHED BY THE FAMILY OF COLONEL FLOWERS V4o EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OP HON. ¥M. M. COOKE, OF MISSOURI. REMARKS OF HON. GEORGE G. VEST, OF MISSOURI. Mr. Speaker : It is my painful duty to announce the death of my colleague, the Hon. William M. Cooke, a member of this House from the State of Missouri. He departed this life in the city of Petersburg, at five minutes before six o'clock, on the evening of the 14th instant. To say only that I knew him, would be gross injustice to the relations that have existed between us. He was my most intimate friend, between whom and. myself no shadow ever came. Standing in the presence of that dread mystery which has separated us, I shall speak of him as he was, in all the relations of life. To many here, sir, probably to a majority of this body, what I shall say will be but a part of the ordinary ceremonial expected in observance of parliamentary custom, and limited to the cold utterance of set phrases. With me it is far different ; but I am well aware that circumstances connected with the condition of his State, and an innate modesty of which he could not be divested, caused Judge Cooke to be less known as a member of this House than his talents and acquirements deserved. It was not the least of his virtues, that painfully sensitive to suspicion of ever seeming to intrude upon any public or private circle, he at the same time scorned the ordinary arts by which many in high position, achieve^ an ephemeral notoriety. Of him it could truly be said, as was written by a great poet in the description of a gentle and loving woman — "Her fairest virtues fly from pub ic sight, Ddmestic worth that shuns too strong a light." EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF Wm M. Cooke, was born in Portsmouth, Va., on the 11th day of December, 1823, and was the sixth son of Mordicai Cooke, a gentleman well known in Virginia, and for many years connected with the legislation of that State. In 1843, after an attendance of three years^ Judge CooKE graduated at the University of Virginia, and removed to the city of St. Louis, which was then just beginning to throb with the energy of that great region, tributary with its rich and varied products to this empress of the West. Soon after taking a residence in St. Louis, he intermarried with the eldest daughter of Henry Von Phul, of that city, and in the year succeed- ing his marriage removed to Hannibal, Missouri, for the purpose of practising his profession. He was soon afterwards made judge of the court of common pleas, and discharged the duties of that position with ability and zeal. Reasons connected with the comfort and hap- piness of his family, induced Judge Cooke, in the year '46 to return to St. Louis, and he then applied himself to the practice of the law in that city. The records of the highest courts in Missouri and the testimony of those who practiced with him, can attest the extent of his legal knowledge and his high position at the bar. In the year preceding this return to St. Louis, the slavery question became the subject of intense excitement throughout the State of Missouri. The Legislature of that State at its session of '45, passed the Jackson resolutions, the author of which, lately died an exile and wanderer upon the soil of a sister State, and the principles announced in this action of the Legislature, the same principles for which the South is now contending, were assailed by Thomas H. Benton with a bitterness and ability rarely equalled in the annals of political warfare. Old party lines were oblijterated by this new and exciting conflict between the Benton and anti-Benton parties. The one represented the Northern, the other the Southern elements, which are now in civil war contend- ing for supremacy. Deeply imbued with the doctrines of Mr. Calhoun, passionately attached to his mother HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. State and her institutions, a true Southern gentleman in every instinct of his nature, Judge Cooke did not hesi- tate a single moment in arraying himself against Ben- ton and the heresies he defended. From that time on, through all the exciting scenes of the Benton strug- gle, when, in 1857, the fanatic hordes of the North poured into '' bleeding Kansas," with Sharpens rifles in one hand and their desecrated bibles in the other, and when John Brown rehearsed upon the soil of Missouri the crimes of treason and murder, which he afterwards ex- piated with his blood. Judge Cooke was a firm, unflinch- ing adherent to the principles of the Southern party. For years in the city of St. Louis, he struggled with a small but determined minority, against the supremacy of Francis P. Blair, Jr., and his foreign auxiliaries. Intimidated by no threats, allured by no rewards, he never wavered from the principles he professed. When, in the spring of 1861, it became evident that war alone could preserve the liberties of the slaveholding States, Judge Cooke felt it his duty, although with a large fam- ily, to defend upon the battle field the principles he had advocated. He was sent by Governor Jackson, in March, 1861, as a commissioner to the President of the Confed- erate States, and after discharging the duties of his mis- sion, returned and entered the army of Missouri as an aid to the Governor. In this capacity he served at the battles of Boonville and Carthage, and as an aid to Gen- eral Sterling Price, at the battle of Oak Hill. After the battle of Oak Hill he was again sent as commissioner to Richmond, in conjunction with General John B. Clark, now a member of the Senate, and upon his return to the army, was elected to the Confederate Congress. I have known Judge Cooke intimately in every rela- tion of life, public and private, civil and military. He was a gentleman by biith, education, habit and instinct. A more ufiSelfish spirit never existed upon earth. Lov- ing and tender as a woman in all social and domestic re- lations, he was yet firm and inflexible in opposition to what he conceived wron^, or in defense of the right. EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF His very faults were those of a generous, noble nature, and but enT-.eared him the more to his associates. With a fine cultivated classic taste, thoroughly read in English and French literature, he had every quality and acquire- ment calculated to adorn and fascinate society As the shadows of death gathered upon his pathway, he met his fate with the calmness which always attended him, let danger come in any shape or at any. hour. He died a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and with a firm reliance upon the promises of the bible. Missouri has lost another of those gallant sons who bared their bosoms to the storm of battle, in defence of her honor. He now rests upon the soil of the State which gave him birth, as a babe hushed to sleep upon its mother's breast. Another home is desolate, another place vacant at the hearth and in loving hearts. Amidst the crash of battle, the rush of armed men, who hears the wail of the orphan, or the sob of the widow ? On the shores of the great river his wife and litte «mes will watch for his coming, " in the morning, in the evening, in the twilight, in the black and dark night ; " but they will watch in vain ! The eye which beamed with a father's love is now rayless, the voice which was sweeter to them than any earthly music, will be heard no more. They know not that in a distant land he has slowly ebbed his life away. As 1 watched, Mr. Speaker, at his bed side the certain advance of his disease, as I saw him gradually but gently receding from us, I was often re- minded of that custom observed by the Hindoo maidens upon the banks of the Ganges : Placing upon an earthen dish, wreathed with flours, a lighted lamp, they commit the frail vessel to the bosom of the river and watch its progress amidst the evening shadows, believing its fate to be typical of that of some absent friend. So watched I the light of his life as for weeks it flickered and lingered along. My straining eyes can see it no longer, but may we not hope that upon the great ocean of eter- nity it has burst into Loontide splendor. By others who HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. knew him and who loved him, he maybe soon forgotten ; but for myself, " The last rays of feeling and life must depart, Ere the love that I bore him shall fade from mj' heart." I move, Mr. Speaker, the adoption of the following resolutions: Rnsolved, That we have heard with deep regret of the death, in the city of Petersburg, Va., en the 14th inst., of the lion. Wm. M. Cooke, a member of this House from the State of Missouri, and that we tender to his family our earnest .-ympathy in their afflictive bereavement. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the family of the deceased,^ and that a communication be sent to the Senate, informing them of the action of this House. Resolved, Tho.t as a further maik of rcf-peet to the memory of the deceased, this House do nuw adjourn. REMARKS OF HON. CASPAR W. BELL, OF MISSOURI. Mr. Speaker : In rising to second the resolutions which have been prop»osed by my colleague, I would do violence to every impulse of my heart, if I should fail to add my humble testimony in this public manner to the worth and merit of the honored deceased. For whilst I have known him comparatively a short time, our acquaintance began and was continued under circum- stances which will ever endear him to my memory, and furnish me with many facilities for forming a correct estimate of his character. It was about the middle of June, of the year 1861, we first met — a period memorable in the history of unhappy Missouri ; memorable, because of the stirring and thrilling scenes which were enacted on her soil, and which threw their darkened shadows upon the hopes and the hearts of every true patriot. For the purpose of overawing the people, and of pre- venting the State of Missouri from exercising its rights as a sovereign and independent State, in affixing its destiny with the South, the United States government IIULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF was pouring its martial hordes upon her soil — hordes more Gothic than those of Alaric, and less merciful than those of Attillar. All the towns and cities were garri- soned ; all the roads and public highways were seized and held ; armed bands of soldiers were scouring the country, and all descriptions of arms were seized and moved beyond the limits of the htate, or placed in the hands of the invaders. Private citizens, while pursuing the peaceful and quiet avocations of life, in the presence of their families, were manacled with the bonds of despotism, and dragged, with coarse jeers, to loathsome dungeons — helpless women and children were ruthlessly assailed and wantonly insulted; in man 3^ instances driven from their homes, and, in some cases, in cold blood, mur- dered. The Governor of the State, the heads of the various departments, and the members of the Legislature were forced to quit the capital of the State, and become wanderers and fugitives from the malice and wrath of a foe who was clamoring for their blood. Claiming for themselves that they w^ere the represen- tatives of the highest type of civilization, these invaders perpetrated the most revolting deeds of barbarism ; professing the benignant and charitable doctrines of Christianity, they committed the deeds of devils. No piety, however pure, no patriotism, however ardent, no age, sex or condition of life, was too sacred for their felon touch ; but with feelings blackened and charred in the fiery furnace of hate and vengeance, they swept through the State, marking their course with ruin and desolation. Amid scenes such as these, the Governor of the State, the late Claiborne F. Jackson, hastily drew around him less than three hundred men, armed with common guns, and without a piece of fixed ammunition, without trans- portation, without a commissary, without money, and, in a word, destitute of every necessary for the conduct of a campaign, was marching South and calling as he went upon the people to rally to his standard to redress their wrongs and defend their rights. HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. Of that small band the deceased was a member, and for the first time I saw him. Having early espoused the cause of the South, and being thoroughly identified with that party which was seeking to detach the State from the Federal Union, and fired by the wrongs under which his State was groaning, he was among the very first to rally to the call of the Governor, "determined," as he said, ** to rescue his State from the foot of the invader, or to yield up his life a sacrifice to the cause." In the history of the world, no sublimer instance of moral courage can be pointed to than that of the de- ceased ; under circumstances so appalling to every hope, solemnly and deliberately dedicating his life to the cause he had espoused. Escape to the South, to all human calculation, seemed impossible, and the annihilation of any military organization, such as could be then impro- vised, was almost sure and inevitable- For, in his rear, he was pursued by Greneral Lyon, with a large and well appointed force ; thirty miles in the front were stationed over a thousand Federal home guards, and still further to the front, a still larger force under General Seigli. But the brave spirit of the deceased was undismayed, and seemed to derive fresh strength and inspiration from the perils which environed him. By his energetic action and his patriotic appeals he aroused the desponding, and in- vigorated the hopeful ; and, though a man of delicate frame, unused to the privations of the " tented field," and an dIEcer of high rank, he, by personal example, re- conciled the mind of the soldier to a cheerful submission to the hardships of military life. The deceased continued a member of the army until near the first of September, when, at the request of Ma- jor General Price, he accompanied General John B. Clark, (now a member of the other branch of this Con- gress,) to this city on business for the army. During his association with the army, he had the sat- isfaction of seeing that little column which had set out under circumstances, such as I have described, swelled to more than fifteen thousand men, and under the com- 8 EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF mand of that gallant chief, Major General Sterling Pric^e, waving his blood-stained banner in triumph over five hotly and well contested fields of battle. The history of the early campaign in Missauri, the battles of Carthage, Springfield or Oak Hills, will not be faithfully written which does not record the name of Colonel Wm. M. Cooke as one of the bravest, most gallant and efficient officers of that army of heroes and patriots, the Missouri State Guard. Shortly after the return of the deceased from this place to the army, he was selected to represent the first district of Missouri in the Provisional and present Con- gresses. As a member of the two bodies, all will remem- ber him as a genial, warm hearted, courteous gentleman, prompt and attentive to his duties, sensitively alive to every subject of interest to his State, and to every measure of general interest which looked to a successful issue of this great revolution. In the discussions which ensued on the various mea- sures of public interest, if he did not participate, it was by no means from a want of interest in the subjects discussed, or from distrust in his abilities as a speaker. For the deceased w^as a gentleman of varied attainments, a practiced speaker at the bar and upon the Hustings — possessing a very graceful and ready declamation, and by those longer acquainted with him than myself, said to be always pleasing and effective, and not unfrequently thrillingly eloquent. In the private and social circles of life, his artless manner, his frank and open demeanor, his manly bearing, and his sprightly and felicitous conversational powers, rendered him an ever welcome and wished for visitor to every circle of his acquaintance, and drew around him many warm and lasting attachments. But, Mr. Speaker, the active and busy scenes of life have now fiided upon the view of this gallant officer, this true hearted patriot and amiable and worthy gentleman. His last battle has been fought, his last earthly labors have ceased. The silver cord has been broken and his I I ■ HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. spirit, as I trusty has ascended to the Grod who gave it and his body has been committed to the tomb to mingle with the dust of this ancient Commouwealth — the home of his nativity and early manhood. Upon that newly made grave, now wet with the tears of his heart-broken widow and orphan children, I, as one of his friends on this floor, and his companion through many stormy scenes of the early revolution, would now mingle my tears of sorrow and affiction. REMARKS OF HON. A. H GARLAND, OF ARKANSAS. Mr. Speaker : The oft repeated story of mortality is recited to us to-day, and in the sad intelligence that one of our comrades has fallen, and has been summonei to his home beyoud the grave; and, let us hope, not to a land of gloom and darkness, but to one of light and eternal youth. As a friend of the deceased, and one of his oldest acquaintances here, outside of his own col- leagues, and coming, too, from an adjoining State, it is not unfit, I hope, that I should pay a parting tribute to his merit and worth. I first met Mr. Cook, in November, 1861, on his way, with his colleagues, to this place, to take his seat in the Provisional Congress. We journeyed together from Arkansas here. I found him then what he ever afterwards showed himself to be — a polite, warm- hearted, generous, cultivated gentleman. With more than ordinary ability, and much more than ordinary attainments, he was at all times an agreeable and inter- esting companion. Modest and unobtrusive, he did not take che position, nor did he seem to strive to do so, that his merit entitled him in the Provisional or this Congress. But his mind grasped all the great questions arising in this contest, and his soul was keenly alive to all the vital interests involved in the issue. The condition of his down-trodden State was his excuse for not being more 10 EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF prominent in the proceedings of the bodies of which he was a member. On more than one occasion has he, with tearful eyes and deep expressions of a breaking heart, recounted to me the sufferings and miseries of that people so dear to him. And for that people for whom, as we have heard to-day, he perilled his life, and fought so nobly under our common colors, he never ceased to speak in the fondest terms ; and it was his earnest prayer to be once more with them. Some few weeks since, when I visited him in sidkness, when the hectic flush upon his cheek, the glassy eye, the quick and heavy respiration, told too plainly the sands of life were fast running out, and his days on earth Avere few, he viewed his fate as a true and brave man alone does, unmoved and uriblenched. j Sir, he died from his wife and children, far from " the j loved ones at home ;" ptnd while he sank to rest removed from these endearing scenes, when probably the wife and 'i children there looking out, as the nightfall came upon the household, for the coming of the husband and the father to add new joys to the throng ; yet he closed his eyes upon this world, in the good old land that gave him birth. And truly, *'in the bosom of his mother earth Urien sleeps ;" of all places on earth, next to his own State, the most appropriate to receive his remains. And here- after, when the noble old matron of honored men and great States, shall, with mingled pride and sorrow, re- view her long list of departed worthies, she will shed a I tear over the memory of no better type of the correct I and true gentleman than that represented by Mr. Cooke. | And while he was thus deprived of the consolations of his family in his last hours, thrown from them by the storm and shock of battle, yet his spirit was given back to its maker at a time ever to be remembered by us, and one at which his noble heart would have swelled with the most fervent emotions — when the thunders of our guns at Charleston, dying over the main, were speaking out to the world Southern freedom, Southern inde- pendence. Since he lived to witness this great triumph. HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. 1 I it would have been to him a joy unmeasured to have been spared a short while longer, when he could look upon his people, once more freemen, and enjo^^ing those blessings for which they have made such wonderful sac- rifices. But he has paid the debt, and, while society has lost an ornament, our cause has lost as staunch a friend as ever entered the councils of our country ; and, al- | though we, his brothers-in-duty, may not know, to^ the j full extent, his merit, yet, with the people of his State and those every where who knew him well, long will live, and flourish as it lives, the memory of WIlliam M. Cooke. With this slight testimonial of my regard for the de- ceased, from my heart, I second the resolutions just road from your table. REMARKS OF HON. D. M. CTJRRIN, OF TENNESSEE. Mr. Speaker : I have listened, with the deepest sen- sibility, to the remarks of those who have preceded me, on this melancholy occasion. During the last few months that immediately proceeded his death, it was my good fortune to enjoy the intimate acquaintance and friendship of our deceased friend. We first met here in the Provisional Congress as strangers ; and until the commencement of the present session, there existed be- tween us only that general acquaintance which is usual amongst members of the same legislative body. At the time to which I have just referred, circumstances threw us together in the same mess : and thus, in habits of constant and daily intercourse, I had opportunity of ob- serving those many noble and attractive qualities for which the deceased was so remarkably distinguished. It required some such intimacy to bring out into full light all the fine points of his character. For there was about 12 EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF him a modesty, a reserve, and a natural dignity that did not very easily yield to the casual contact of mere or- dinary acquaintanceship ; but .when these barriers were broken down by more intimate association, it was found that beneath an exterior of seeming reserve, there pul- sated as warm, as confiding, and as generous a heart as ever beat in the breast of man. Comparatively recent as was our intimacy, I feel now, as I stand, as it were, by his grave, as though we had been friends from our boyhood. Mr. Speaker, he was one of those few, rare men we sometimes meet in life, whom, when you come to know them well, you seem to have known all your lifetime. His nature was eminently generous, genial and social. His mind was well stored with the treasures of varied and extensive reading ; his literary taste was most cultivated and refined ; and to these gifts were added colloquial powers that rendered his conversation unusually fascinating. Nor disease, nor failing health could, for one moment, obscure the brilliancy of his powers, or chill the genial current of his social feeling. And as the last enemy, with sure but in- sidious steps, advanced upon him, it was touching to ob- serve with what easy and even cheerful philosopy he re- garded his advances ; himself seemingly less concerned about his fate, than were those by whom he was sur- rounded. There was no querulousness ; no despondency ; no weak anxiety or apprehension as to the result ; but, with the characteristic unselfishness of his nature, it was easy to see that he affected an unconsciousness of his condition, lest the sympathy and aniexty of his friends might cast a cloud over the little circle of which he still continued to be the charm. Surely, as he gradually sunk to his rest, with his. heart unchilled, and his powers undimraed, there seemed much to deprive death of its usual terror. It is believed by his friends, that in his last hours, he had no anxiety except to see his absent wife and children, and to give them his last blessing. Mr. Speaker, it is touching to reflect that such a man should have died far from those objects of the dearest HON.. WILLIAM M. COOKE. 13 of all human ties — far from sacred home — that home over which such qualities as he possessed must have shed a perpetual sunshine of domestic happiness — and far from the State of his residence and adoption ; that State which had so often honored him with her confidence in the most responsible positions, and whose interests and present perilous fortunes, as is well known to his inti- mate friends, were so often the subjects of his conversa- tion and thoughts. We have heard from his colleagues, how patriotism had made him an exile from that home and that l^tate ; how, at the verj commencement of our present struggle, with failing health, and a fe».ble frame ill-fitted to obey the promptings of his heroic soul, he repaired to the field and served with honorable distinc- tion as a soldier, until the voice of, his people summoned him to our councils here. Yet it is consolatory to re- flect, that though he died from home, he died not amongst strangers. He died here, in the State in which he first drew the breath of life — the land of his nativity, where kind and affectionate relatives still remain. He died not amongst strangers ; for his qualities were such as to have made warm and attached friends of all by whom he was sur- rounded. And as a weary child returns to its mother's breast, so our deceased friend, now that life's wanderings and troubled journey, for him at least, are over, reposes calmly upon the bosom of this proud old commonwealth that gave him birth. Mr. Speaker, I have not come to pronounce any labored eulogy upon the character of the deceased ; but have arisen upon the sudden promptings of my heart which would not let me be silent, but bids me unite my humble voice in the expression of the general griv.f. Standing here, memories of past companionship crowd thick upon me — memories that I will not trust myself to attempt to express in words. So recent is this affliction, that I can scarcely realize that he, who but yesterday, was so cherished by us all, is no more ; that his place in the circle is now vacant. 14 EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF But, alas ! the sad conviction forces itself upon me. The friend — my friend, the patriot, the accomplished gentleman, is gone ! I come only to lay my poor offer- ing upon his grave. REMARKS OF HON. H. W. BRUCE. OF KENTUCKY. Mr. Speaker: On this mournful occasion, and in this solemn presence, I have but few words to say. My acquaintance with the deceased would not allow of more. Though not an accustomed eulogist, I have, however, thought it not inappropriate that some of his more recent acquaintances should speak of him at this time. It so happened that our deceased and lamented friend, over whom we all now so sincerely mourn, was one of the very first of the many agreeable and genial acquaintan- ces that-it was my good fortune to make when I repaired to this city, in February, 1862, to take my seat as a member of this honorable body. And the first repre- sentative duties imposed upon me as a member of this House, it was my pleasant task to perform in connection with Judge Cooke, as a member of the committee, of which my accomplished and honorable friend (Mr. Lyons) from Virginia, was chairman, to arrange the ceremonies for the inauguration of the first permanent President and Vice President of the Confederate States of America. That committee was composed of a member from each of the thirteen States constituting the Confederacy ; and on that committee I had the honor to represent the unfor- tunate, but to me still dearly cherished. State of Kentucky, as did Judge Cooke that of Missouri. Al- though the labors of that committee were not such as necessarily to prevoke an exhibition of the powers and beauties of his mind and his intellectual culture, yet at our earliest interview he impressed me, as no doubt he did other members of the committee, not only as a man HON. WILLIAM M. COOKE. 15 of fine mental capacity and extensive intellectual culture, but, in the justest sense of th? term, as a thorough gentleman. For a few weeks we occupied rooms on the same floor directly opposite to each other, at the Spotts- wood hotel in this city, and were consequently often thrown into each other's society. In society he wore the same lofty, dignified and courteous mien, of which i his uniformly decorous bearing as a Representative, has left an impression on this House. In his nature, I think I transcend not the just bounds of truth when I say, I found nothing to condemn ; but to admire, many of the noblest qualities and most generous impulsions with which frail, if not fallen, humanity is endowed. These admirable characteristics were most hapily blended in his generous nature. He was as brave as he was gentle, as noble as he was kind, as firm as he was respectful, as generous as he was just, frank and ingenuous, without dissimulation or guile. But if we concede, sir, that like all of us he had allotted to him a share of the human weaknesses incident to our common nature, I think it can safely be averred of him, if of any man, that, *•' E'n his vices leaned to virtue's side." This, Mr. Speaker, is but a meagre presentation of my estimate of Judge Cooke's character, founded on what may be called a limited acquaintance. For with his early history, education, associations and pursuits, I am not personally familliar. After the first few weeks of our acquaintance, in con- sequence of my removal to a different paft of the city, our association became less intimate. Our first brief association, however, taught me to feel that had it been protracted, our acquaintance would have ripened into affectionate friendship. But his earthly career is now terminated; and alas ! how much sooner than I antici- pated when it was first my pleasure to meet him. On the committee, to which I have adverted, were several members of this House whose heads were already silvered o'er with the frosts of many winters ; and had poor, err- 16 EULOGIES ON THE DEATH OF ing human judgment been called on to point out the in- dividual among us on whom grim death would first lay his icy hand, perhaps one of those more elderly gentle- men would hare been indicated. I am sure our deceased friend would not have been. But, whilst I bewail the demise of my friend, I rejoice and felicitate this branch of our federate legislature, that "our other associates on that interesting occasion are still spared by an Allvrise Providence as useful members of this body. When we then met together, a pall of darkness and uncertainty enshrouded our whole country, and sorely depressed the feelings and hopes of our people. Henry, Hatteras and Donelst-n had fallen ; the gallant Wise, Coles and other compatriots had been slain, fighting gloriously for their country's freedom ; the noble, chivalric and skillful Buckner, with his brave and heroic fellow soldiers, had been led off into Northern captivity ; brave Tilghman, too, and his noble little garrison had gone the same way ; Kentucky and a part of Tennessee had been given up to the ravages of- the vandalic invader ; imminent dangers threatened us on all sides. Yet, we expected to see our country emerge from those frowning dangers into the effulgent, meridian sunlig'it of ilidependence. No doubt our friend expected to be one of the happy millions who are to rejoice when that glorious period shall arrive; as it must arrive some da}^. And I may say, that though he lived to see "all the clouds that (then) lowered o'er our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried," still it was not his rare felicity to be spared to behold the accomplishment of those two objects, which we all know, were the dearest to him of all earthly desires, the re- demption of his own State from the thrall of tyranny and despotism, and the acknowledged and perfect inde- pendence of this Confederate government. Mr. Speaker, the sadist reflection to me in this me- lancholy subject, is that our friend and legislative col- league should have been deprived of the consolation of, and died away from, his family, from whom he had so long been separated by the most wicked tyranny that HON. WILLnM M. COOKE. 17 ever oppiessed any honest people. It would have been a sad and melancholy satisfaction to them and to him, had they been with, and smoothed his brow, in his last moments. That the kind beneficence of Him, who "tem- peretK the wind to the shorn lamb," may be with and console them in this their m)st afflicting and sor'fest bereavement, I know, is the sincere prayer of every | member of this House. REMARKS OF HON. JOHN B. BALDWIN, OF YIRGTNrA. Mr. Speaker: I had no acquaintance with Judge Cooke until I met him here as a member of this House, and since I have known him our intercourse has not been specially intimate, yet I feel a desire to add here my tribute of kindly regard for one who had in a remarka- ble degree attracted my sympathy and good will. In our intercourse with the world we sometimes meet witli men who seem to have about th:m something which insensibly and yet irresistibly attracts and wins us — something wholly independent of judgment or opinion — and which may be called ihe gift of being beloved.' I have rarely met with one who possessed this gift in a higher degree, and I think the m