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 0n, (gecrgc Jtfiffltn fallas, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE BAR OF PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 February //, 7865 } 
 
 I'.Y 
 
 CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 
 
 Q A f> J 
 
DPON THK 
 
 g 
 
 |0ti. mtotnt fpfflin 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE BAR OF PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 , "February 77 ; 7865 
 
 CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 
 
 h 
 
 
 
 
MI. \n, II I. IN BROTHERS, l'RINTEHS. PHILADELPHIA. 
 
iHcctinq of the Itfar: 
 
 5 eg 
 
 A large meeting of the members of the Bar was held in the District 
 Court room, January 3d, 1865, for the purpose of paying a tribute to the 
 memory of the late Hon. George M. Dallas. Most of the distinguished 
 members of the Bar were present, and the occasion was very impressive. 
 Chief Justice Woodward presided, and Benjamin II. Brewster, Esq., 
 Hon. Richard Vaux, and Hon. William A. Borter acted as Secretaries. 
 Immediately after the organization, Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll delivered 
 the following brief eulogy : 
 
 " It is not a rare event to lose a distinguished member of the Bar. It is 
 not more rare to assemble and express sincere regret for his departure. The 
 feeling of the companions of years who have witnessed his merits in fre- 
 quent display, is keen and deeply expressed. None can be insensible to 
 tin evi nt of the separation, or willing and able to withhold an expression of 
 sympathy and sorrow. When an event in itself not extraordinary calls for 
 extraordinary marks of regret and distress, and receives the expression of 
 them, without a dissenting thought, and only echoes with its own responsive 
 throbbing of a feeling heart the sentiment engendered spontaneously, and 
 firmly and cordially uttered, the occurrence itself or the party mourned, 
 must have been entitled to more than every day sorrow, or even sorrow 
 which only at distant intervals sheds its tears. We are survivors of one 
 who united in himself properties which would have been rare if separate, 
 but are freely acknowledged when combined in the same individual. In 
 giving utterance to the sentiments of esteem, respect and affection, which 
 were welcome to those who were intimate with the late George M. Dallas, 
 it is scarcely possible to speak with calmness or without danger of saying 
 what to those who had not the strictest right to sympathy, would ap] 
 extravagant or unjust. And yet where shall we look for merit most un- 
 doubted, and sentiments always pure, if not in him? 
 
 The members of the Bhiladelphia Bar have learned with deep affliction 
 the decease of George Mifflin Dallas, who was long their esteemed and 
 admired associate and cherished friend. 
 
 It has become a duty not less certain than painful, but mingled with 
 sentiments not unwelcome in their character, to unite in the expression of 
 condolence, regret and sorrow. The melancholy event cannot be recalled, 
 for it was the will of Heaven. While we submit to the decree with con- 
 scious feelings of a stern necessity, we may lessen its force and give firmness 
 to the patience of our sub by an expression of the profound res 
 
and warm attachment which were his doe in life, and canm 
 
 in his death. A brief delineation of his unspotted character is be< 
 
 elves, an - so to him who is no more. An eminence in pi 
 
 u employment was his universally acknowledged position at home. It 
 was also his unsought distinction to receive fame and ornament abroad. 
 These were bestowed and could not fail to be I in various contribu- 
 
 irned reputation. A 1 and 
 
 literary] was the from which he drew his reput 
 
 in pu e. As a r he uttered, and as a scholar he com] 
 
 on many the fruit of much that he had studied with the 
 
 advantage, and communicated only with continued augmentation of his 
 well-earned farm-. A diplomatic life was an occasional relief <•: 
 duty, ami it was fulfilled at different European Courts, with continued 
 honor to himself and reputation to bis native land. In the do -• ;ircle 
 he was a pattern of kindness; and it is not extravagant to Bay that he was 
 there adored. In social intercourse, where enjoymept was fell imu- 
 
 nicated by himself and Ins many friends, his deportment was gracious 
 oners always kind. 
 
 David Paul Bbowk, Esq., who followed, said: — I have few words t<> 
 say after the very eloquent expressions of sentiment by my i 
 venerable friend, in relation to the lamented event which has brought us 
 together. Death is near to us all. Our departed friend is to be c 
 to that grave which is a pillow of repose, where all rest and never more 
 wake to this world's toils. It is tit however, and it is commendable, that 
 those who knew him best, and loved him most, should express tl. 
 ments in regard to this sad bereavement, and thereby impart to others the 
 benelit of his vn le. It was -aid in former times. "1 
 
 whom tl love die young." That was the doctrine of an unspiritual 
 
 mythology. It -. trine that had regard to what may be <■. • - 
 
 negative blessing — tie tempt from the toils and 
 
 tins life, but in that doctrine they "skipped the tint 
 There is a more pleasant and a more solemn di 
 
 of all 1 ks, "tl .-ray head is a crown of glory if it be found in 
 
 the way ol This embraces both worlds — the d 
 
 are the earnest of the w >rld to Mr. Dallas has 
 
 gathered in the richness of his years to his reward. His life was a life of 
 merits. It taught him affection to nil around him; it taught him his duty 
 
 - fellow men lit him t 1 deeds to 1..- rewarded 1 
 
 It l- not for him 1 feel, but lor those from whom he has been withdrawn, 
 at a period of time when his counsel and his aid would have been most 
 
 hi for, lie i- at rest, hut Ins wife and children Buffer. 
 
 Judge Cadwaladeb Baid: — If it were not prematu after 
 
 death to suggest consolation to his surviving friend-, they may derive it 
 from a retrospect of him who has just departed. It was a life of sunshine, 
 and I believe that there ! ly lived a man on whom the ill- of mor- 
 
tality sal more lightly than upon Mr. Dallas. It maynol be uninteresting 
 to consider the probable cause of tins distinguishing trail of Mr. Dallas. 
 1 think it was that his life was varied wholesomely and usefully with pur 
 suits not exclusively professional. It made him a friend of the buman r: 
 He was the brother of the judge on the bench; he was the thirteenth juror; 
 he was the friend of the widow ; be was the fair antagonisl of the party he 
 opposed. All was kind, all was natural. His life was thai of one who 
 thought and acted naturally. We all feel that had he lived longer there 
 might have been an alley to these pleasant ways of life. I may say that 
 one of the peculiar circumstances of this characteristic life of Mr. Dallas 
 was particularly owing to his absence al one time from the country, and 
 that he had never fully fit tie- magnitude of the evils with which we are 
 now oppressed. He could scarcely conceive that a calamity had arrived 
 that clouded this sunshine of his .lays. 1 say no more on that subject. I 
 mention it as an instance typical of Ins uniform benevolence, a disposition, 
 which is so graceful as man advances in life, to look upon tin- better side of 
 human lit". 
 
 George M. Wharton, Esq., followed: — Although younger than Mr. 
 Pallas, 1 was favored with many opportunities of seeing and admiring him. 
 I am old enough to recollect him when he was in his prime, and 1 can bear 
 testimony to the admirable manner in which he conducted himself as a 
 practitioner. Re was not what may he called an animated speaker, but he 
 was always impressive, and his language was always that of a scholar and 
 
 utleman. No man could he intimate with Mr. Dallas without feeling 
 a deep veneration for him. It arose mainly from that kindly warmth of 
 temp, lament winch attracted him to everybody, and attracted everybody 
 to him. 
 
 CHARLES EngERSOLL was the next speaker, and in a few words he paid 
 a tribute to the memory of the deceased. 
 
 Colonel Page next introduced the following resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That the chairman appoint a committee of seven to furnish 
 a copy of the proceedings to the family of the late Mr. Dallas, and cause 
 the publication of the same in the daily papers. 
 
 Resolved, That the liar will attend the funeral, and wear the usual 
 
 _ie of mourning. 
 
 Resolved, That the chairman be requested, at his leisure, to appoint 
 some gentleman to pronounce a eulogy on the late Mr. Dallas. 
 
 I be following is the committee appointed under the resolution : 
 Josiah Randall, Hon.GEOKni: Sharswood, Hon. < Iswald Thompson, Hon. 
 John M. Read, Hon. Garrick Mallery, William Badger, Esq., Henry 
 M. Phillips, Esq. 
 
Philadelphia, February 25th, 1865. 
 
 Deai 
 
 We beg leave to thank you for the very aide and efficient manner in 
 which you discharged your duties as the Eulogist of the late Hon. <;eorge 
 M. Dallas, and respi ctfully ask you for a copy of the Address delivered 
 at the Hall of the University of Pennsylvania, on the evening of the 11th 
 inst., with a view to its publication, in pamphlet form. 
 
 Very truly, your obedient servants, 
 
 JAMES PACK. 
 DAVID PAUL BROWN, 
 tl. M. WHARTON, 
 BENJAMIN II. BREWSTER, 
 MORTON P. HENRY, 
 
 iTommittee of arrangements, Ac 
 To Hon. i '. .). Biddle. 
 
 i I.LMKN . — 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of this 
 morning. A copy of the Eulogy on Me. Dallas, as published in one of 
 the journals of this city, I send, herewith, in compliance with your request ; 
 and for the very courteous terms in which you havi 
 j ou to accept my thanks. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly, 
 
 Your obedieni servant, 
 
 CHARLES J. BIDDLE. 
 
 I'n 1 1. \ in lphia, February 25th, 1865. 
 
 To Jakes Page, David I'm i Brown, G. M. Wharton, Benjahid ii. 
 Brewster, and Morton P. Henry, essqs. 
 
 Eommittrc of Smngrmrnta, .\r. 
 
KU LOGY. 
 
 The Bar of Philadelphia, assembled to pay a tri- 
 bute of respect to the memory of its eminent and 
 lamented member, George Mifflin Dallas, resolved 
 — in addition to the usual ceremonial — that a public 
 Eulogy should be delivered upon him as one who had 
 afforded, in and beyond the profession, no common 
 example of public and private virtue. 
 
 The performance of this duty has been assigned 
 to me. and, though I would rather have devolved it 
 to abler hands, I obey promptly the call with which 
 I have been honored. 
 
 I shall eulogize him by telling, as simply and faith- 
 fully as I can, the story of his life. Not fully, for 
 that is the office of biography; but briefly, and with 
 the incompleteness that belongs to the form in which 
 I have the honor to address you. 
 
 He was born at Philadelphia, on the 10th day of 
 July, A. D. 1792. 
 
 Every man derives from his progenitors some traits 
 of physical, moral, or intellectual character. This is 
 as true of him who boasts himself a " self-made man," 
 as it is of those who owe an obligation to parental in- 
 struction and example. 
 
 Mr. Dallas was fortunate in all the circumstances 
 of his parentage. In writing of them in after life he 
 said : 
 
8 
 
 " I care little for the accidental honors of birth; mv habit of thought 
 has led me, perhaps unduly, to depreciate them; but I b i a thought 
 
 that there was nothing for which I ought to be more grateful to my Divine 
 Author than his having permitted me to spring from two persons of correct 
 lives, good moral sentiments, and large mental attainments." 
 
 To these advantages, we may add. that, like the 
 
 younger Pitt. Mr. Dallas was the carefully trained son 
 of an eminent father, and was by him directed early 
 towards a career of public usefulness and distinction. 
 
 The Dallas family was originally from Scotland, 
 and has. on both sides of the Atlantic, been prolific 
 of distinguished men. Without enumerating all, 1 
 may mention to the profession the names of Sir 
 Robert Dallas. President Judge of the Common Pleas, 
 in England, and Trevanion Dallas. President Judge 
 of the Common Pleas, of Alleghany county, Penn- 
 sylvania. I will mention, also, an alliance that con- 
 nects the family with one whose name is familiar to 
 you all. Charlotte Henrietta Dallas, who was the 
 aunt of the late Mr. Dallas, married Captain Byron 
 of the British navy, and her son is the present Lord 
 Byron, successor to the estate and title of his cousin. 
 George Gordon Byron, whose poetic genius and ^ < - 1 1 - 
 erous devotion to the cause of Greece were distinc- 
 tions higher than hereditary honors. 
 
 But the father of Mr. Dallas was an American ; 
 Alexander -lames Dallas, like Alexander Hamilton, 
 was born on one of the Islands that pertain, geo- 
 graphically, ti» the American continent. 
 
 He received his education in England, and con- 
 tracted there an early and happy marriage with 
 Arabella Maria Smith, the daughter of an officer in 
 the British army. In 17S1. he returned to his birth- 
 place Jamaica. 
 
9 
 
 The war of American independence was then 
 waging on the adjacent continent, and his sympathy 
 with the colonies in their conflict with the mother 
 country, and his clear perception of its result, prompt- 
 ed Alexander Dallas to throw off, forever, the char- 
 acter of a British subject. Coming to this city, in 
 June, 1783, he took immediately the oath of allegiance 
 to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which, in 
 September of the same year, was recognized by Great 
 Britain, in the treaty of peace, as a "free, sovereign, 
 and independent State." 
 
 It is not my purpose to dwell upon the career of 
 this eminent man, further than it connects itself 
 closely with my subject. The late Mr. Dallas found 
 leisure to prepare a life of his father. To this manu- 
 script I have had access, and a cursory perusal war- 
 rants me in saying that it is a literary production of 
 great merit and interest, which ought not to be lost 
 to the public. From this memoir, I extract a picture 
 of the domestic character of the elder Dallas. It 
 illustrates also the character of the son, by showing 
 the social influences that moulded it; and many of 
 } 7 ou will trace with interest the strong family like- 
 ness between him and his father. 
 
 " My recollections of my father are still, after the lapse of nearly half a 
 century, very vivid, accompanied by tin- warmest attachment and the deep- 
 est veneration. All his children regarded him as their most delightful 
 companion, instructor and friend. His labors in scenes of lmsiness- 
 fessional or political — were unceasing, but his happinen red in his 
 
 domestic circle. Deriving great pleasure from social intercourse, he n 
 theless pn ferred that it should be under his own roof, and shared by his 
 family. < >ne of the established institutions of his household was the " cold 
 cut," or fragmentary supper, which, between ten and eleven, rallied all the 
 inin ' a lively chat and a gay good night. 
 
 They whose stations or | t profound meditation gradually 
 
 to be what are termed men of the world, and, at home I, are 
 
 incapable of that prompt and light communion so full of domestic en d 
 ment, and so graceful in general society. It was otherwise with him. He 
 
10 
 
 would retire to 1 . with the n. 
 
 of law, arrange an entangled mass of fact.-, or resumi 1 of original 
 
 com] osition, without any a] parent effort. When, however, thus inv 
 
 llest- of interruption, and at the call of affection, or of frolic, 
 would Lreak off with joyous abruptness, and betray not the s\i{ 
 torn of pre-occnpation. How oiten did th> ■ ! delight 
 
 his friends ' M< st frequently th< y were manifested wlien his children, heed- 
 hors, invoked Lis enlivening ] reeence, always finding him in 
 their fii< i te, their gayest 
 
 A Bingle instance may adequately illustrate this trait of ■ 
 
 Late in the evening, he was I usily engaged in methodizing note.- for bis 
 
 argument in the morning before Judge Washington, in thecelebrated "Olm- 
 
 wbile his lamily circle, in the adjoining parlor, were equally 
 
 intent on framing a set of original "conversation cards." The youthful 
 
 Jiarty undeitook to write on one side of each blank card an emphati 
 eading word, and on the other side an a] pn j riate couplet. A bun 
 boisterous mirth drew him irom his office, and being in 
 of the nature of the pastime, and called upon to assist, he remained for 
 about fifteen minutes absent from his papers, and endorsed several of the 
 cards with lines of poetry : 
 
 "MISS LIVINGSTON. 
 
 O'er liveless marbh lei Pygmalion moan; 
 We bail the graces "i a I.i\ iii^st.m. 
 
 " FBI l N DSHIP." 
 
 The delusions of life will teach you ere long, 
 
 'In compound for no nood, if you suiter no wrong, 
 
 For friendship romantic in search while you go, 
 
 I \ i iy man Is my friend, sir,— who is not my u >e. 
 
 " IInMl 
 
 Thai •• home is home" I can't agree; 
 For lei me with mj Mary roam. 
 Through every land, o'er every sea, 
 I still will rind myself— at home: 
 The spot of birth, the scat of fame 
 The cottage thatch or palace dome, 
 May mark an era, eiA <■ a name 
 But Mary's bosom is my home." 
 
 The scholastic instruction of youne Dallas was 
 completed at that ancient seat of learning, Princeton 
 College. He was graduated there in is In. receiving 
 the first honor, and delivering the valedictory address, 
 in which the early Graces of his oratory attracted 
 much attention. He then began the study of the law 
 in his father's office. In doing so, he seems to have 
 laid down for himself a certain distribution of his 
 time, which is preserved in a manuscript volume of 
 his youthful writings. Possibly, the rules may have 
 been suggested by his paternal instructor. They 
 
allow, daily, four hours to "law." This is two hours 
 less than Lord Coke prescribes to the student ; but 
 the genera] education of a youth of eighteen war- 
 ranted the Large allowance made for other studies, 
 including the modern languages, which amply fill up 
 all the day, from seven in the morning till ten at 
 night, and leave little room for idleness or amusement. 
 The onl}' day of rest is appropriately devoted to 
 •• Church ami the Bible." One allotment of time may 
 interest you. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 
 from " dinner till five o'clock," was to be devoted to 
 •• politics." This may have been for the perusal of 
 formal treaties, but I suspect that the best lessons in 
 politics of the son of Alexander Dallas were received 
 at dinner, — I mean in social intercourse with his 
 father and his friends. It may be well for me to 
 say something, now, of the school of politics in 
 which George Dallas was thus a pupil ; a school of 
 which his father and his eminent compeers were the 
 founders. 
 
 It was an American school — that sought to free 
 the new government from the rule of European pre- 
 cedents. 
 
 There were statesmen at that day — and they were 
 men of ability and patriotism — whose inclination, in 
 forming and construing the Federal constitution, was 
 to augment and extend the Federal power till it should 
 control all the important interests of the States. 
 
 But Jefferson — and with him Alexander Dallas 
 cordially agreed — looked upon such a pervading, im- 
 perial government for the States as only too like the 
 very government which had lately driven the colonies 
 
12 
 
 to revolution. That revolution had been provoked 
 by the attempts of the British parliament to usurp 
 the functions of the Colonial Legislatures, under the 
 pretension asserted in the act of XI George the III. 
 to "full power and authority to make laws and stat- 
 utes to hind the colonies and people of America. Bub- 
 jects of the Crown of Great Britain, in all cases 
 whatsoever." 
 
 These events of colonial history had afforded new 
 light to American thinkers upon the science of govern- 
 ment. They had held high debate with the mother 
 country upon the distinction between external and 
 internal taxes; upon the nature of actual and "virtual" 
 representation. The problem to be solved in the new 
 government was how to combine federal strength with 
 the freedom of local action which the colonies had 
 always claimed and, at last, asserted by force of arms. 
 The constitution of the United State- solved this 
 problem, and. after the adoption of the ten amend- 
 ments, satisfied Jefferson and his disciples. It seemed 
 to secure the Liberties of the people against encroach- 
 meni from either Legislative or executive power, and 
 t he one was, with t hem. as much an objeel of mistrust 
 as the other. They held it to be a principle essential 
 to just Legislation, thai- the legislators should 
 
 REPRESEN1 \M> SHARE THE [NTERESTS I POH WHICH THEY 
 
 legislated. This principle was evolved in the Long 
 dispute with Great Britain, in the course of which 
 the ministry, ai one time, proposed to give to the 
 American colonics an illusory representatioD in the 
 British parliament. This principle was embodied 
 in the federal Constitution, which withheld all local 
 
13 
 
 and particular interests from the jurisdiction of Con- 
 gress, entrusting to it only such powers as would, in 
 execution, operate generally upon the people of all 
 the States. 
 
 Thus the rule of the majority, established by our 
 institutions, was made just and reasonable, as being 
 the sense of the larger part of each community, upon 
 its own affairs, and not the hostile force of numbers 
 directed against interests in which the voters had no 
 part. 
 
 Such were the views of the elder democrats, then 
 styled republicans. Their theory of government 
 made provision for a great family of free States, each 
 administering intelligently its own separate interests; 
 the very opposite to the tyranny of one or many, in 
 a consolidated empire. John Taylor, of Caroline, 
 once a famous, now a neglected writer on politics, 
 was the friend of Jefferson, and an expounder of his 
 views. Taylor, says : 
 
 " Majorities and their rights arc • of social compact, and not 
 
 endowed by nature with political power. They are compounded of men, 
 exclusive of women, minors, and others. They are a social being, and no 
 duty can accrue to any majority but to one established by social compact, 
 because no other majority exists possessed of any political rights." 
 
 Madison, writing in 1788, of the constitution then 
 just adopted, adverts to "the danger of oppression" 
 from acts in which "the government is the mere 
 instrument of the major number," but he finds "secu- 
 rity" in the "limited powers of the Federal govern- 
 ment, and the jealousy of the subordinate govern- 
 ments." 
 
 It is not within my province to vindicate this 
 school of statesmen from some prejudice which has 
 
14 
 
 attached to it, in our daw from the cxiv-i- of followers 
 and tin' misrepresentations of adversaries. 1 rehearse 
 ii- doctrines now, only that I may say intelligibly: 
 these are the principles with which George Dallas 
 was imbued in boyhood, and to which he adhered. 
 consistently, through life. 
 
 In the studies I have mentioned, he now passed 
 more than two years, under liis father's root*. Oratory 
 was not neglected. From the leading literary maga- 
 zine of the day, the Port Folio, he received, in the 
 number for May, 1810, a compliment not often paid 
 to speakers so juvenile, in the publication of his 
 oration "Upon the Moral Effects of Memory." 
 
 His habits at this time were studious and literary, 
 as I am informed by two of his surviving cotempo- 
 raries; they tell me, too, that his morals were as 
 exemplary in youth as in his maturer years. 
 
 This tranquil course of life was interrupted by the 
 war which was declared againsl Great Britain, in 
 June, 181_!. Young Dallas immediately joined one 
 of the volunteer companies forming in this city : bul 
 another direction was soon given to his career. A 
 proffer of mediation between the two belligerents was 
 made by the Emperor of Russia. President .Madison 
 immediately accepted this oiler, and appointed two 
 commissioners, Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard, to join 
 our minister. Mr. Adams, at St. Petersburg. Mr. 
 Dallas, at the instance of his lather, went with Mr. 
 Gallatin as bis secretary, being, however, lirst ad- 
 mitted to the bar, though not ye1 of age; the court 
 relaxing, under the circumstances, the general rule. 
 When the commissioners reached St. Petersburg, they 
 
15 
 
 learned from Mr. Adams that Great Britain was not 
 the least inclined to enter into negotiations there, 
 under the auspices of Russia. This brought their 
 errand to a stand. The course which they then 
 adopted shows that young Dallas had inspired his 
 eminent associates with great confidence in his 
 abilities. They sent him, alone, to London, to concert 
 there some mode of opening negotiations for peace. 
 
 1 am not here to discuss the events that belong to 
 public history, but to advert, briefly, to Mr. Dallas's 
 persona] share in them. His mission to Loudon was 
 successful, and initiated the arrangements which 
 brought the representatives of the United States and 
 Great Britain to a conference at Ghent, in Belgium. 
 He improved his stay in England, in seeing men and 
 things of celebrity and interest. In the journal of 
 Lord Byron, as published in Moore's life of him, I 
 find this entry : 
 
 " Dallam's nephew (son to the American Attorney General) is arrived 
 in this country, and tells Dallas that my rhymes are very popular in the 
 United States." These are the first tidings thai have ever Bounded like fame 
 to my ears— to be redde on the banks of the Ohio * * 
 To be popular in a rising and tar country has a kind of posthumous feel, 
 very different from the ephemeral >r-lat and feteing, buzzing, ami party-ing 
 compliments of the well-dressed multitude." 
 
 In his first intercourse with the British peer, the 
 young American stood upon his dignity, and. after one 
 call, would not make another, till his visit had been 
 returned. On this point he would not admit the privi- 
 lege of the peerage, as urged by his kinsman and Lord 
 Byron's friend and connection R. C. Dallas, of whose 
 beneficial influence over the wayward poet there are 
 many indications in his memoirs. The point of 
 etiquette was, however, adjusted, and some pleasant 
 
L6 
 
 intercourse with Byron was among Mr. Dallas's 
 reminiscences of his Btay in London. 
 
 From England Mr. Dallas went to join the Ameri- 
 can commissioners at Ghent, who had been reinforced 
 
 by the arrival of Henry Clay. Mr. C. J. [ngersoll, 
 
 the historian of the war, whose habitual resort to tin/ 
 best authorities must have Led him to seek information 
 from Dallas, his townsman and friend, says that the 
 high spirit of the great Kentuckian had a happy 
 influence with his colleagues. At this time, the Bri- 
 tish government, allied with the great power- of 
 Europe, and flushed with their success againsl Napo- 
 leon, as well as with the recent capture of Washington, 
 assumed a haughty tone towards the representatives 
 of the United States. As preliminaries to negotiation 
 for peace, it prescribed terms so arrogant that our 
 commissioners instantly rejected them. They did 
 more; prompted by their knowledge of the temper of 
 the American people. They dispatched Dallas to 
 carry to his government with the utmost expedition 
 the insulting proposals of Great Britain, not for con- 
 sideration, but for a very dilferciit purpose. Dallas 
 made what was then thought a rapid voyage, landed 
 at New 5Tork, and hurried on to Washington, riving, 
 on the way. one hour to his family, at Philadelphia. 
 There he saw his father, who hail accepted the office 
 hut had not yet assumed the duties of Secretary of 
 the Treasury. I find a letter dated Philadelphia, 7th 
 October, L814, from Alexander Dallas to Richard 
 Hush, then Attornev General, saving: 
 
 "My arprisedthe family las) night, on his way from Ghent 
 
 to Wa in. We passed an hour with him, and he pn 
 
 surprise, to animate the Legislative patriots who are fortunately as 
 
 (in the Pol 
 
17 
 
 George Dallas, arriving at Washington, found Mr. 
 Madison living in lodgings near the smouldering ruins 
 of the presidential mansion, which the British had 
 lately given to the flames. His appearance was care- 
 worn, and, to the eye of the casual observer, might 
 have seemed dejected. Pacific by temper and prin- 
 ciple, his uncongenial task was to keep alive the war 
 spirit of his country, depressed by a powerful and 
 dangerous combination of his political adversaries. 
 Dallas gave him the dispatches. There is a publishei 1 
 a ccount of this interview, probably derived from Dallas. 
 The President read, and, as he read, his eye brightened 
 and his color rose, till, at last, he started up, exclaim- 
 ing, with unwonted animation, "this will do! this 
 will do !" and then he added " they will unite the 
 American people, which is what we most need ; no 
 patriotic citizen of any party will hesitate a moment 
 to reject conditions so extravagant and unjust." It 
 was for this that the commissioners had sent them ; 
 they were instantly published to the country, and 
 produced the effect anticipated. With the subsequent 
 negotiations Dallas had no concern, nor, therefore, 
 have I, on this occasion. 
 
 It was about this period that his father took upon 
 himself the arduous duties of a post which his two 
 predecessors had cpiitted in despair. I have not time 
 to dwell on the success in finance of this great "Phila- 
 delphia lawyer." His son remained with him for a 
 time in the Treasury department, aiding his lather 
 and increasing his own knowledge of affairs. 
 
 The son of the Secretary of the Treasury, return- 
 ing from important foreign service, would not have 
 
18 
 
 lacked advancement from executive favor; but Dallas 
 was bent upon professional success, aud he returned 
 to Philadelphia. 
 
 I have dwelt upon the benefit that he derived in 
 boyhood from his lather's care; but you will note 
 that his pupilage did not extend beyond the ordinary 
 term. We have seen him, while yet under age, sent 
 alone to thread the mazes of foreign diplomacy ; now, 
 in his lather's absence, he begins, alone, his struggle 
 at the bar. They were, in fact, never associated in 
 practice, the father dying immediately alter his return 
 to it. It was upon his own powers that ( leorge Dallas 
 relied, and with such confidence that he now married, 
 being- in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Those 
 who tell me of the purity and diligence of his youth, 
 ascribe a happy influence to an early attachment. 
 which was now rewarded b} r a union with its object. 
 On the 23d of May. L816, he was united to Sophia, 
 daughter of Philip Nicklin, Esq., of this city, and 
 from that day he dated a long life of unalloyed 
 domestic happiness. 
 
 His first professional appearance may interest you. 
 It interested his father, who. amid his financial cares, 
 received this report of it from Charles J. Lngersoll, 
 
 under the date of 
 
 Philadelphia, 27th April, 1816. 
 
 My Deab Sib: — 
 
 I have been too much occupied lately to write you an account, how- 
 ever slioi t , oi 'b debut, which li<- made in the Circuit Court in a 
 manner to do Inn redit and afford you great ; 
 two "i' our criminal cases, indictments against mutin< ad, with 
 the exception <•! a Bingle word, which 1 i I had the opportunity of 
 asking the explanation of Ins j • ition, 1 do not believe that 
 crowded audience, there was one who was not gratified with his lirst ap] 
 ance. lli> person and deportment, you know, are agreeable. lhs address 
 was distinguished from mosl othei -i in not being a speech. It 
 
L9 
 
 steel of a clear explanation of the law, and a particular narrative oi 
 without effort or geaeral observation; and I can assure you that — 
 though the occasion did noi per mi I a i disclosure of talent — there 
 
 v. i [ecided indication of the best abilities for the bar. There was method, 
 of course clearness, perfect Belf-possession with mi confidem e, and the .■ 
 
 te share of so few young men to say no mo in the 
 Bubjecl would bear. His language, manner, and enunciation were excellent, 
 and he convicted the prisoners almost without my interference al all. 
 
 His rise in the profession was rapid and brilliant. 
 He matched himself successfully with his ablest com- 
 petitors, some of whom — the seniors of our bar — still 
 live in the enjoyment of their fame ; many are gone, 
 but transitory as professional reputation is, theirs is 
 well-known to most of you, who have been, to some 
 extent, their cotemporaries. I have dwelt, at some 
 length, upon the period of his life that formed his 
 character and that is most remote from your personal 
 knowledge. I must pass more rapidly over an ensu- 
 ing period. He sought no office that would withdraw 
 him from his profession. In the line of it, he held 
 several important positions. I enumerate them now 
 without regard to the date of each appointment. He 
 was Deputy Attorney General for the city of Phila- 
 delphia; Deputy Attorney General for the city and 
 county of Philadelphia; District Attorney of the 
 United States; Solicitor of the Bank of the United 
 States; Commissioner of Bankrupts; Attorney Gen- 
 eral of the State of Pennsylvania; Solicitor of the 
 county of Philadelphia. He declined the office of 
 Attorney General of the United States, which was 
 offered to him by President Van Buren. In L828, 
 he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, but though 
 the duties, less onerous then than now. did not 
 interfere much with his practice, he soon resigned 
 the office. 
 
20 
 
 1 shall not rehearse to you the familiar story of a 
 lawyer's life. It affords few salient points, for such 
 brief notice as my limits allow. I will add, however, 
 a few words upon the characteristics of Mr. Dallas as 
 a member of the profession. First, lie was heartily 
 fond of the profession, and preferred it to anj other 
 calling in the ordinary business of life. This entry 
 appears in his diary, at a time when he was a Senator 
 of the United States : 
 
 "The more I reflect, the more I am reconciled to entire privacy of 
 Btation and ] i nal pursuits; anything in life but a dependence upon 
 
 executive patronage; although I have, heretofore been frequently il 
 I never did, and never will pursue it." 
 
 Consider a moment, and you will give this more 
 credit than is commonly given to such declarations. 
 It is true that an honorable ambition prompted him 
 to accept public employments of great dignity when 
 tendered to him; but political office, for itself or its 
 emoluments, he seems never to have sought. The 
 first that he accepted was one of the highest — that of 
 Senator of the United States ; all the early and sub- 
 ordinate positions which he took were "law oitices," 
 to get himself on ///, not to get himself out of the 
 profession. From three long absences he returned to 
 it with zeal, and with remarkable ease reclaimed his 
 place in it. This alacrity to return from high office 
 to the coi nn ion routine of practice was a peculiar trait 
 in him, not shared by many. He did not derive it 
 from his father, who. in like circumstances, in L816, 
 wrote to a friend : 
 
 " 1 will not disguise from you, that 1 i as the time approaches 
 
 for my return u> the business "i tin- bar. Two years have produced great 
 changes in the profession, and 1 feel as u 1 w. re about to begin the v, 
 
 -a." 
 
21 
 
 From what I have seen and heard of Mr. Dallas, 
 I think his style of speaking at the bar was formed 
 quite early, and did not alter much. His attitudes 
 and gestures had a grace which conformed so well 
 with his usual bearing that I believe it was unstudied ; 
 in maturer rears, it certainly had become perfectly 
 natural to him. Careless speakers, or those who in 
 practice of the u ars celare artem' affect carelessness, 
 might have called his manner, "formal." Unless 
 when roused to unusual fervor, his enunciation was 
 very deliberate. He seemed to choose his words, and 
 utter them emphatically, as if entitled to great weight. 
 They always had great weight with juries, and it 
 was increased by his reputation for personal honor 
 and integrity. It would be alike presumptuous and 
 invidious for me to attempt to compare, critically, his 
 merits as an advocate with those of the other great 
 lawyers of his day. Certainly, neither at its meri- 
 dian nor towards its close, was there any man in the 
 profession who could treat him as other than a for- 
 midable antagonist in the trial of a case, civil or 
 criminal, for he was equally at home in either branch 
 of practice, which is a circumstance by no means 
 common. He was the very pink of courtesy in his 
 demeanor to the bench, to the witnesses, and to the 
 opposing counsel. This secured him from those 
 angry collisions in which the advocate forgets the 
 wrongs of his client, in resenting his own. But there 
 was no lukewarmness in his advocacy; nor did he 
 rest content with such display as might seem due to 
 his own reputation, or to fees received. He took 
 throughout, a zealous interest in his client's cause; 
 
22 
 
 his preparation was ample and timely; lie WBS punct- 
 ual and exact, ami neglected nothing. He seemed, bow- 
 ever, to do his work easily, without any appearance 
 of hurry or oppression. The old poet Chancer, de- 
 scribing the lawyer of his day. says 
 
 '• No man so busy as he there n'as, 
 And yet he seemid busier than he was." 
 
 The reverse of this was true of Mr. Dallas: he 
 seemed less busy than he was. and made no parade 
 of his labor. A friend who was, probably as often 
 as any one, his junior in important eases, tells me he 
 never was with any senior, who took so full a share 
 of the labor. He adds a remark so happy, that I 
 give it in his own words : •• Mr. Dallas seemed always 
 to have in his mind our oath of professional office, 
 ' to behave with all good fidelity, as well to the court 
 as to the client; to use no falsehood, nor delay any 
 person's cause for lucre or malice." This fidelity to 
 the court assured him a weight and favor with it. 
 not less than his eloquence and tact obtained with 
 juries. No judge ever suspected chicane or indirec- 
 tion in Mr. Dallas. His law arguments, prepared 
 with great care, proved that he belonged to one or 
 the other of the two division- of good lawyers — 
 '•those who know the law. and those who know 
 where to find it." There were cases into which he 
 brought, with great effect, his political views of the 
 structure of our government, and the derivation of 
 legislative power. Such a case was Sharpless vs. the 
 
 Mayor of Philadelphia, reported in 9. Bands, which 
 I heard him argue with signal ability. It was a suit 
 in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, to test the 
 validity of an Act of Assembly authorizing subscrip- 
 
23 
 
 tions by the city of Philadelphia to certain public 
 works. The constitutionality of the act was main- 
 tained by Mr. Dallas, and affirmed by the court. 
 Another important case, the Mayor of Philadelphia 
 vs. the Commissioners of Spring Garden, briefly re- 
 ported in 7. Barr, afforded an opportunity for a pro- 
 found political argument from Mr. Dallas, which, I 
 am well assured, changed the views of one of the 
 judges, and secured a majority of the court for the 
 defendants — the appellants in the case — for whom 
 Mr. Dallas, with other eminent counsel, appeared. 
 
 But I must now follow him to a wider field. In 
 1831, he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the represen- 
 tation of Pennsylvania, in the Senate of the United 
 States. Mr. Dallas, on taking his seat in December 
 of that year, w T as one of the youngest members of 
 the body, which then included more men of ability 
 than at any other period of its existence. It has 
 been aptly termed "the golden age of American ora- 
 tory." His whole course in the Senate was distin- 
 guished, but I shall follow it only upon two questions. 
 
 The first is the application for re-charter by the 
 Bank of the United States. This question 1 shall 
 discuss so far as may be necessary to show the position 
 in which Mr. Dallas stood upon it. To do this clearly 
 one or two preliminary observations appear to me to 
 be necessary. The canvass for the Presidency in 
 1824, exhibited what seems, in these times, a singular 
 spectacle; there were tour candidates — all of the same 
 party. General Jackson, Mr. Adams. Mr. (lay and 
 Mr. Craw lord were all republicans, according to the 
 political nomenclature of that day. The case arose in 
 
24 
 
 which, by the provisions of the Constitution, the 
 Presidenl is chosen by the State-, through their dele- 
 gations in the House of Representatives. The friends 
 of Mr. Adams and of Mr. Clay, secured the election 
 of the former. Upon this, violent crimination and 
 recrimination ensued among the candidates ; and their 
 personal griefs and private conduct furnished the 
 themes of political discussion until the next election. 
 The supporters of General Jacks. m, known throughout 
 the Union as "the Jackson party," dwelt with great 
 vehemence upon the circumstances attending the de- 
 feat of their candidate by the coalition of the sup- 
 porters of Clay and Adams. The popular verdict in 
 1828 was in favor of General Jackson. To his suc- 
 cess, no man in Pennsylvania contributed so much as 
 Mr. Dallas. Through his agency, the friend- of Cal- 
 houn were rallied to the support of Jackson; the 
 pretensions of the former having been abated, in the 
 prior canvass, from the first to the second office in 
 the government. 
 
 But the point to which I ask your attention is 
 this : the party divisions, at that time, at least on the 
 surface, were indicated by personal preferences, rather 
 than by distinctive political principles. The aspiring 
 men of that day agreed, ostensibly . "ii bo many point-. 
 thai the} were greatly in want of some public question 
 upon which to divide into parties. Ten years before, 
 
 they had buried out of their sight tin- dangerous 
 sectional question of slavery, and they were too 
 wise to disinter it. It was the hank question that 
 was t<> furnish an issue i'^v the Presidential election 
 
 of L832. 
 
25 
 
 Mr. Clay writes in May, 1831, in a published 
 letter-: 
 
 " I need not say that my constitutional doctrines are those of the 
 epoch of 1798. I hold to the principles of Mr. Malison, as promulgated 
 through the Virginia Legislature. I have never altered my constitutional 
 opinions which I ever entertained and publicly expressed, except upon the 
 hank question; and the experience of th ; late war changed mine and ale 
 every other person's, who had been against the power of chartering it." 
 
 Some time before this date, the bank question had 
 been brought prominently forward by Gen. Jackson. 
 Mr. Bancroft and Mr. C. J. Ingersoll both say that 
 he intended to take his position upon it in bis inau- 
 gural address; but yielded to the suggestion that the 
 subject was more appropriate in a communication to 
 the legislative body. Accordingly, in his first mes- 
 sage, in December, 1829, it was introduced with these 
 words : 
 
 "In order to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy, in a measure 
 involving such important principles and such deep pecuniary interests, I 
 feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties interested, too soon present it to 
 the deliberate consideration of the Legislature and the people." 
 
 To this he added an unequivocal declaration of 
 his own hostility to the Bank. He again introduced 
 the subject, in his successive messages of 1830 and 
 1831. 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Clay was equally ready 
 for the question. In December, 1831, his friends 
 assembled in convention at Baltimore, and nominated 
 him for the Presidency, as the candidate of the party 
 then termed " National Republican," and afterwards 
 "Whig." This convention issued an address in which 
 they formally accepted the issue which, they affirmed, 
 had been tendered by President Jackson. Their ad- 
 dress, after an emphatic approval of the bank, said : 
 
26 
 
 " Such i. ; the institution which tl .'lent has gone out of his way 
 
 in Be vera] su< -. without a j r< I ty or plausible 
 
 motive, in the first instance Biz years before his suggestion could with 
 any propriety be acted upon, to denounce to Com a sort of nuisance, 
 
 and consign, as far as his influence extends, to immediate destruction." 
 
 All to which I have thus far adverted had. as you 
 see by the dates, occurred before the bank applied to 
 Congress for re-charter. Its application was first pre- 
 sented by Mr. Dallas, in the Senate, on the 9th of 
 January, 1832. Those who had in charge the interests 
 of the bank had earnestly endeavored to keep it out 
 of politics; but when they saw it. without their 
 agency, become the political question of the day. they 
 submitted to necessity, and made their application at 
 the best time possible, under the circumstances. A 
 majority in its favor was certain, and "two-thirds" 
 possible in both houses of Congress, and in ease of a 
 veto, there was an immediate appeal to the people. 
 Some have fancied that General Jackson was willing 
 to temporize and waive his objections, if the question 
 of re-charter were kept hack till after his second elec- 
 tion ; but this notion is not consistent with the char- 
 acter of General Jackson, nor with any established 
 facts. 
 
 It is true, that in a political struggle on the bank 
 question the event seemed dubious. The friends of 
 Mr. Clay were sanguine and eager to make the issue; 
 many friends of General Jackson were anxious to 
 avoid it; but he himself, with the political Bagacity 
 for which he was remarkable, saw clearly that he 
 was on the more popular side of the question. " Wait 
 till you hear from the cross roads." he said to his 
 friends who were alarmed at demonstrations in the 
 commercial cities. 
 
27 
 
 The bank question had then, in 1832, a triple 
 aspect. It had long been a question of finance and 
 of constitutional law, in both of which the prepon- 
 derance of authority was in its favor. Men differing 
 as widely as Alexander Hamilton and Alexander 
 Dallas, had agreed in advocating a National Bank. 
 It was the first proposal of Alexander Dallas on enter- 
 ing the Treasury, and he never ceased to urge it, till 
 his views prevailed in the charter that was drawing 
 to its expiration at the time of which I speak. The 
 opinion of Mr. George Dallas, in 1832, upon the bank, 
 in its financial and constitutional aspects, was the same 
 as his father's. But a new consideration now super- 
 vened. It was probable, almost certain, that if the bank 
 were not re-chartered, it would be made a leading issue 
 in the coming canvass between General Jackson and 
 Mr. Clay. All the political ties and feelings of Mr. 
 Dallas were with General Jackson; he had helped to 
 advance him to the Presidency, and no man was more 
 determined to keep him there. 
 
 Mr. Dallas, therefore, assumed a position in which 
 there was no inconsistency, and which left no one in 
 doubt of his intentions. Although the application 
 for the re-charter of the bank was made, at that time, 
 contrary to his wishes, he determined to vote for it 
 while it was a measure of financial legislation, to pass 
 it if possible, and put it at rest. If not passed, and 
 if made a political issue in the coming canvass, he 
 would stand as he had stood in the former canvass, 
 the friend and supporter of General Jackson. In 
 short, as a Senator of the United States, lie intended 
 to exercise his constitutional power in favor of the 
 
2S 
 
 bank; but, if the constitutional power of the Execu- 
 tive were exercised against it, that would be to him, 
 individually, no reason for abandoning General Jack- 
 son and joining Mr. Clay, in the approaching canvass 
 for the Presidency. The legislature of Pennsylvania, 
 in April. 1831, had recommended the re-charter of the 
 bank, and. in February. L832, "instructed" the Sena- 
 tors from the State to vote lor it. Mr. Dallas, on the 9th 
 of January, L832, presented the application of the bank, 
 and in a speech on the occasion made his own position 
 perfectly intelligible, as I have ju>t defined it. He 
 adhered to it with perfect consistency. He voted 
 for the bill to re-charter the hank in every Btage of 
 it- passage through the legislative body of which lie 
 was a member. In the political canvass which 
 ensued, between General Jackson and Mr. Clay for 
 the Presidency, into which the hank question entered 
 Largely, Mr. Dallas sustained Gen. Jackson before the 
 people, and again contributed to his success. In Bub- 
 sequent phases of the United States Bank controversy 
 the opinion of Mr. Dallas was expressed against it. 
 Jlis only official action on it. however, was in the 
 Senate, in L832, where, I have always thought, he 
 acted frankly and fairly, in a position of some 
 embarrassment. 
 
 These observations of interest occur in his diary 
 of this period : 
 
 On the 9th of January, L832, he makes the fol- 
 Lowing entry : 
 
 "Well! my I h in was made this morning, ] 
 
 il of thr bank. It was well r< ind, it' I 
 
 i exactly the position 1 wished to occupy. The d 
 attention with which I w was near uj Fortu- 
 
 ible t" be bi 
 
29 
 
 There is another entry on the subject, made the 
 next evening : 
 
 "It was a singular sensation I experienced on reading my first, sho 
 b, in the National ! icer this morning. J wish it had bei 
 
 little longer. What says my mother to my first Btep in legislative life 
 in defense of my fathers favorite offspring?" 
 
 Another important subject agitated the country 
 during Mr. Dallas's term of service in the Senate. It 
 was the "nullification" movement in South Carolina. 
 Without entering much into details, I may state that 
 Mr. Dallas sustained General Jackson's administration 
 heartily, in all its measures at that juncture. In his 
 first session, when ominous threatenings of disunion 
 mingled in the discussions of the tariff, Mr. Dallas 
 met them with great spirit. Against those "avIio 
 should recklessly involve the American people in the 
 horrors, uncertainties, and fatal consequences of civil 
 war," he invoked " an immortality of detestation." 
 Those were his words. In the next session, he spoke 
 at length in favor of the bill for the collection of 
 duties, commonly called the "force bill," and voted 
 for it. In short, he fully shared the councils of Jack- 
 son and the spirit that animated them. In saying 
 this, however, it is due to both these eminent men to 
 indicate with more precision what the spirit was that 
 guided them happily through dangers so like those in 
 which we have been less fortunate. 
 
 The public men of our day who have discarded 
 " compromise" as a mode of allaying national discord, 
 dwell with some complacency upon the example of 
 Jackson. It is not uncommon to hear eii<-<niiiiiin< 
 passed upon the Btern, uncompromising spirit which 
 is ascribed to him. A publication made during the 
 
30 
 
 pasl year, throws some light upon this subject. I 
 refer to the memoirs of Kdward Livingston. In them is 
 stated, -what was known before to many, that he wrote 
 the President's celebrated "proclamation" of Decem- 
 ber, 1832. Yet, for one, and but one passage in it. 
 General Jackson furnished his own draft, in writing. 
 He sent it to Mr. Livingston in the following note : 
 
 Dear Sib : I Bubmit the above as the conclusion of the | aion, 
 
 for your amendment and revision. Let e your best Might of elo- 
 
 quence to strike the heart, and speak to the feelings of my deluded coun- 
 trymen of South Carolina. The Union must be preserved without blood, 
 if possible; but it must be preserved at all hazards, and at any price. 
 
 Yours, with high respect, 
 
 Andrew Jacksos. 
 Dec. 4, 1832—11 o'clock, P. M. 
 
 What was thus, furnished by Jackson, amplified 
 by Livingston, became that beautiful and persuasive 
 passage in the proclamation, beginning : 
 
 "Fellow citizens of my native State: — Let me not only admonish yon 
 as the first Magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penall 
 
 a-, inn use the influence that a father would over his children whom 
 he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal Lang with that pa- 
 
 ri feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are deluded by 
 men who are either deceived themselves or wish to deceive you." 
 
 This spirit was not less shown in acts than in 
 words. The proclamation itself admitted the unequal 
 burdens of the tariff, and declared, to quote its Language, 
 thai "the condition of the country imperiously de- 
 manded such a modification of the duties as should 
 reduce them to a just and equitable scale." A bill 
 for this purpose, known as Verplanck's bill, was im- 
 mediately reported to the House of Representatives 
 from its Committee of Ways and Means. This was 
 the administration measure; but General Jackson 
 acquiesced in, at least he sinned, the substitute for it. 
 prepared in the Senate by Clay in concert with Cal- 
 
31 
 
 houn, continuing - , on a descending scale, protective 
 duties for nine years; an enactment known in history 
 as the compromise of 1833. 
 
 None ever doubted the courage and vigor of Jack- 
 son; let us leave him, too, the glory of wisdom and 
 moderation in the dangers to our country which he 
 thus happily surmounted. In his vigor and in his 
 moderation he had the support of Dallas. He writes 
 in his diary, in December, 1832 : 
 
 " I told the President that public sentiment would sustain him in in- 
 flexible firmness, unmingled with the least passion." 
 
 I observe, however, that on the passage of Clay 
 and Calhoun's bill in the Senate, the vote of Mr. 
 Dallas is recorded against it. 
 
 Declining to be a candidate for re-election to the 
 Senate, he now returned to professional life. In this 
 I have described him as far as my limits allow. I 
 mention only that it was at this time that he held 
 the office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania, by 
 appointment of Governor Wolf. In 1837, the Presi- 
 dent elect, Mr. Van Buren, two weeks before his inau- 
 guration, wrote to Mr. Dallas, explaining that there 
 would be no change in the Cabinet, as appointed by 
 General Jackson, except in the Department of War, 
 and this, according to certain principles of geograph- 
 ical representation, would be filled from the south. 
 He concluded by inviting Mr. Dallas to accept the 
 mission to Russia. After some consideration he ac- 
 cepted it. Before his departure, a public dinner was 
 given to him by the Bench and the Bar of Philadel- 
 phia. The proceedings on the occasion evinced the 
 warm regard felt for him by his professional brethren, 
 
32 
 
 to which he was deeply Bensible, and his diary records 
 "the intense gratification" which he derived from it. 
 He writes : 
 
 " How shall I put down a correct idea of the dinn.-r given to me, on 
 tlic 14th, by the Bench and the liar'.' Nothing more ap] 
 and well attended can be imagined. * * * * The presentation i 
 gold snurf box, and my brief reply, were foil 
 
 "ii such occasions at ribahle. 1 do not I that out 
 
 company of eighty, t jo persons who did i. 
 
 my own excitement and intense grati ., I can never forget them, as 
 
 long as 1 live. When I delivered my parting toast, and walked towards 
 the dour, ev<-rv gentleman rose, and met me I hands and bid good- 
 
 "— April 16, 18 . 
 
 He remained at St. Petersburg till October, 1839, 
 when, at his own request, he was re-called by Presi- 
 dent Van Buren. 
 
 Mr. Dallas had an aptitude, though not, I think. 
 a fondness for diplomatic life. Be was thoroughly 
 conversant with the national interests and foreign 
 relations of his country. His manners and accom- 
 plishments made him very acceptable in European 
 society. French, which is the universal language of 
 courts, he spoke fluently; I do not know whether he 
 possessed any other foreign languages for colloquial 
 use, but he was familiar with the literature of most 
 of them. I shall enter into no details of the mi — ion 
 to Russia. The history of our relations with that 
 friendly power has never been diversified h\ any ex- 
 
 >i « * 
 
 citing incidents, and 1 may pass it with the observa- 
 tion of the moralist: "happy is the nation wli 
 annals are dull!" You would not find it dull, it" time 
 permitted me to give the many remarks of interest 
 
 Contained in Mr. Dallas's diary, which was kept at 
 this period with more regularity than usual. The 
 following must suffice: 
 
33 
 
 Decembeb 10, L837. 
 
 No one can imagine with what unwearied delight I read the reports of 
 our congressional proceedings, and all American state papers. It is not 
 raerelv a habit and a taste for tins sort of to i-tter, but when contrasted with 
 what 'is seen and beard around me, the real tones of free government and 
 liberal reason are like the witchery of the .Eolian harp. I must Btay bere 
 very very long before 1 can acquire a relish for the unnatural condition of 
 humanity that exists. It is all very well, while we are in the drawing 
 room, or pampering our own vanities; there is an order, a tranquility and 
 bboul military despotism and its Bystem which seem congenial 
 to the idle and degenerate moments of our nature. But reared where and 
 a< 1 have been reared, and knowing how, occasionally at least, to think 
 
 [nothing better than myself, and beyond my imme hate circle, the great 
 and glorious sounds that break in upon the stillness of absolutism from 
 across the Atlantic, act upon me as do the warblings of a Hying bird upon 
 one that listens in his cage. I am inclined to rise and sing also ; I walk 
 up and down, excited if not elevated; and my patriotism becomes a source 
 of the keenest possible enjoyment. If an American wants to find out the 
 way to love his country, her institutions, and her noble and athletic stand 
 in support of liberty and universal happiness, let him come to some regions 
 like these, and be the recipient of such articles as the President's message, 
 Mr. Calhoun's, Mr. Benton's, Mr. Adams', and Mr. Rives' speeches. Let me 
 add Mr. Webster's; for though he seems to me to breathe forth less of the 
 great western Republic than the others, yet he certainly belongs to the choir 
 who kindle and confirm their countrymen, when away from party strife in 
 
 gn lands." Jan. 7: "Visit the Imperial Library, K.iO.OOO volumes, most 
 of them obtained from the libraries of Polish nobles, whose estates had 
 been confiscated." * * * * " Household servants are, represented to 
 be secret agents — a matter of no importance to me — I have nothing to con- 
 ceal." * * * * In despotic governments fears of conspiracy and 
 change are always more or less afloat. The agents of the police keep these 
 fears alive as necessary to their own importance." 
 
 October 7, 1837, he makes a minute of a conversa- 
 tion with another diplomatist: 
 
 "I regretted the extreme difficulty of acquiring information as to the 
 finances, jurisprudence and public system of Russia; and doubted the wis- 
 dom of the profound mystery with which everything of thesort was envel- 
 oped Ee had experienced the same feelings, on his early coming. Nothing 
 
 unable except by conversation. The public journals we re w 
 than useless; the public officers were subordinate in rank and inn I 
 and as incapable as afraid to say much. The best resorts were the old mem- 
 
 of the diplomatic corps, who had managed, by long and unceasing 
 efforts, to get correctly informed, it was, however, vain to expect here the 
 same facilities as are enjoyed in America or England. As to the finances, 
 no one could pretend to know more* about them than their striking results." 
 
 On his return from Russia, in 1839, Mr. Dallas 
 again resumed the practice of the law, reclaiming, with 
 little delay or difficulty, his high place in the profes- 
 sion. From this he was withdrawn by his election in 
 
34 
 
 1844, as Vice President of the United States, for 
 which office he had bees nominated, he afterwards said. 
 •■without the slightest knowledge, or expectation, or 
 desire on his part."' Indeed, the name of Mr. Dallas, 
 though often associated in the public mind with the 
 Presidency, had not. prior to tins nomination, been 
 mentioned in connection with the Vice Presidency. 
 In this high and peculiar position in the government, 
 his relations with the President. Mr. Polk, were alwa \ a 
 cardial, and he exercised much influence in the ad- 
 ministration, and still more in the body over which 
 he presided. There his dignified, yet winning man- 
 ners, uniform courtesy and fairness, and ample stores 
 of information added to the authority which his 
 official station gave him. The traditions of the Senate 
 ascribe to no one of his eminent predecessors a supe- 
 riority to Mr. Dallas, as a presiding officer. The 
 most marked event of this administration was the 
 war with Mexico. I cannot say to what extent Mr. 
 Dallas was consulted in the conduct of it : he cer- 
 tainly, 1 think, contributed largely to its success. I 
 can maintain this somewhat paradoxical assertion. 
 At the beginning of the Mar. a strange intrigue — 
 personal rather than political — so worked upon Presi- 
 denl Polk as to induce him to ask authority from 
 Congress to appoint an officer to outrank all the gen- 
 erals in the field. There was no disguise of his in ten- 
 tion to confer the new grade upon Mr. Benton, then 
 a Senator from Missouri. It is not easy t<> -a\ what 
 might have been the consequence if this project 
 had succeeded. No man rates higher than I do the 
 valor of the American soldier, hut I have read in 
 
35 
 
 history of the veterans of Napoleon, led bv an incom- 
 petent general, surrendering to a Spanish mob; and 
 I fear there would have been a very different chapter 
 in the history of our war with Mexico, if the little 
 army which the genius of Scott marshaled to victory, 
 had been turned over, insulted and disheartened, to 
 the guidance of a politician 
 
 "That never set a squadron in the field, 
 Nor the division of a battle knew, 
 More than a spinster." 
 
 A bill to authorize the appointment actually passed 
 the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the 
 Senate. That Mr. Dallas's intiuence was thrown 
 against it there, I know ; and I claim for him a full 
 share of the blame which Mr. Benton, in his memoirs, 
 easts upon three members of the cabinet — Marcy, 
 Walker, and Buchanan — for the frustration of his 
 scheme. Purposing to speak only of those events in 
 this administration in which I can distinctly trace the 
 action of the Vice President, I will now mention that he 
 gave the casting vote in favor of the tariff act of 1846, 
 thus repealing the prior act of 1842. In doing so, he 
 gave his reasons, briefly and conclusively, in an ad- 
 dress to the Senate. He said he was convinced that 
 the majority of the States needed and desired a change 
 in the tariff. " He did not feel at liberty to counteract, 
 by his single vote, the general will." These points 
 being argued at some length he proceeds to say : "The 
 Vice President, now called upon to act, is the direct 
 agent and representative of the whole people." This 
 was no doubt intended as his answer to a local cry 
 that reached him, calling upon him, as a Pennsyl- 
 vania^ to give his decisive vote in favor of that 
 
36 
 
 tariff which afforded the larger measure of protection 
 to our local interests. In another communication to 
 
 the public, he further said upon this point : 
 
 "The two i: of Pennsylvania, al"iut which much anxiety was 
 
 manifested — the iron and coal interests — will i and 
 
 xperience the injuri Id. But, is il irupright 
 
 monwealth can for one moment demand that an v the 
 
 suffrages of all the twenty-eight States, and bound by his oath and i 
 
 thfully and fairly to represent, in I ution 
 
 lit' bis high trust, all I '.1 the Union, should narrow his great 
 
 .-[In re and act with reference only to her peculiar v. . 
 
 He also adverted to the fact that he had been 
 nominated and elected to the Vice Presidency upon 
 a platform of principles which contained the following 
 explicit declaration : 
 
 Resolved, "That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Govern- 
 ment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to 
 cherish the in irtion to the injury of another portion of our 
 
 country." 
 
 To this he added that he had never during the late 
 canvass assumed any position, or made or authorized 
 any declaration inconsistent with this, the avowed 
 principle of his party, upon the subject of protection. 
 1 believe this statement of Mr. Dallas, as to his own 
 personal attitude in the canvass of 1844 — and it was 
 of that he spoke — has not been, and cannot be con- 
 troverted. 
 
 Mi-. Dallas also used his influence in favor of the 
 ratification of the treaty of peace with Mexico, the 
 terms of which were assailed as too magnanimous 
 towards a defeated enemy. He published a letter in 
 which he showed that the policy of the government 
 iii being Liberal was not the less sound. 
 
 I fe -aid : 
 
 •Tlic peace whether conquered or purchased must be regarded as an 
 illustration of American magnanimity. What other government under the 
 circui i would havi it? What other] xrould ha\ 
 
in the hoar of consummate triumph and * * * * have instantly shut 
 their hearts against ambitious aspirations, and stretched forth their hands 
 to renew the relations of amity ' Such a course always lias been and 
 always will 1"' sneered at by monarchies. Traceable equally to the !■ 
 and temperate character of our citizens, and to the beneh. ter of 
 
 our institutions, n is wholly an American a< t. 
 
 Yet, in one contingency, he confessed that peine 
 might become a subject of regret. This passage in 
 his letter seems now so prophetic, that it is due to 
 him to quote it : 
 
 "I must confess that the peace with Mexico would be more satisfactory 
 to a reflecting judgment were the prospects of domestic government and of 
 foreign intrusion in that country less unpromising than tiny arc Shall 
 we admit no reproaches, no regrets, if she sink the victim of savage anar 
 or more savage military despotism '.' Should the scion of some stump of 
 royalty, as a ward of European policy and power, bent upon inoculatnm 
 this continent with their degrading and pernicious system, be sent 
 
 ;>ted to her chief magistracy, might not a tardy and vain repentance 
 follow ? 
 
 The struggle between the fundamental and antagonistic principles of 
 human association would at once be transferred from the eastern herni- 
 sphere, where for ages and over myriads it has rioted in blood, pauperism, 
 and oppression, bigotry, and ignorance. It would have been better to ex- 
 punge the name of Mexico from the map forever." 
 
 This letter was published in June, 1849. 
 
 His views upon the questions of Texas and of 
 Oregon I shall not present in detail. The views of 
 Mr. Dallas, as a statesman, on these and like ques- 
 tions, were always bold and comprehensive. In 
 speaking upon a local topic he once said : 
 
 " We have long since disproved and repudiated the lethargic maxim of 
 Dr. Johnson : 'Extended empire, like expanded gold, i solid sub- 
 
 e for feeble splendor.' Such a principle is unsound in application to 
 American institutions. We have never yet been debilitated by enls 
 ment, whether of city, state or nation." 
 
 To all fears of weakness or division, he opposed 
 the peculiar structure of our institutions, that left all 
 local interests to local administration, and united the 
 whole by the cohesion of the general interests center- 
 ing in one federal head. 
 
38 
 
 From the Vice Presidency, he returned to the bar. 
 resuming' and pursuing his practice with his usual 
 success and assiduity. Among occasional appearances 
 upon the public scene was an address delivered at a 
 great Union meeting in November, 1850, over which 
 John Sergeant presided. It was a meeting of Whigs 
 and Democrats, to sustain the measures advocated by 
 Clay, and Webster, and Crittenden, and Cass, and 
 Douglas, and approved, as laws of the United States, 
 by Millard Fillmore. You will, of course, expect me, 
 in sketching the life of a lately deceased American 
 statesman, to make some mention of his views upon 
 that question which, more than any other in our day, 
 has agitated, or rather convulsed the American mind. 
 I cannot, I think, present them more unexceptional >ly. 
 than in the language which he himself used, to an 
 assemblage which was scrupulously divested of any 
 partizan character; on this occasion he uttered no 
 opinions that were not fully shared and sanctioned 
 by the eminent jurists and statesmen whose names I 
 have just mentioned. Mr. Dallas offered the resolu- 
 tions, prepared by a committee, urging obedience to 
 the laws in question. Speaking of them, he said : 
 
 "One of these has already become the sabjeel of serious discussion, and 
 of alarming movement; that is the act, entitled " An a sup- 
 
 ■rij to the act resp from justice, and pert tying 
 
 from the service of their masters, approved on the 12th February, 1793," and 
 authenticated by the illustrious signatures of George Washington, John 
 A 'lams, and Jonathan Trumbull. This acl is denounced ; it lias been made 
 the basis of lawless and criminal violence; il bas tra a of 
 
 aullification from Charleston to Boston; it is made the pretext for :i course 
 
 unbilled and simultaneous action, subversive of established authority 
 and order, and fatal, if m I, to the government under which we 
 
 I Bay that this fugitive slave law, in its - details, in all us 
 
 features and all its provisions is in perfect harmony with the Constitu 
 of our country. Of the twelve States whi affixed their honored 
 
 names, in convention, to that instrument, one only was. even in appearance, 
 divested of Blavery. That condition of labor was familiar to them all; and 
 
39 
 
 a Federal Union which did not provide for absolute security, amid the 
 seductions and facilities to escape consequent upon the creation of closer 
 political ii<-s. was an unattainable work of which they nevi r dreamed. 
 
 They who framed our Constitution were neither fanciful nor fanatic. 
 They laid the broad foundation of a Union of sovereign States in a practical 
 manner and for perpetual duration. They discarded I topian notions. 
 They took tb - as they found them, with their respective 
 
 usages and habits and institutions, over which, for change or modifi- 
 cation, they knew and felt they possessed no delegated powei whal 
 Their object was a general government for purposes common to all their 
 constituent commonwealths, and not a government whose consolidated 
 powers would reach into domestic jurisdictions and over-ride or absorb 
 mere local institutions and laws. 
 
 ii, I say, this fugitive slave law is just * * * *; and finally, 
 fellow citizens, i say this law is an expedient one. After too tranquilly 
 witnessing for the last twenty years, the progress of an imported fanaticism 
 in its efforts to depreciate our constitution, and gradually to weaken the 
 bonds of our union, the critical moment has come for deciding whether we 
 will hold fast to the glorious government of our fathers, or immolate it at 
 the shrine of reckless, senseless, remorseless abolition. I solemnly believe 
 the country to be staked on the permanency and stern execution of this law. 
 We should endeavor to rouse and rectify a public opinion that has remained 
 too long and too injuriously inert. If ever it has pleased the Almighty to 
 give his blessing to any form of temporal polity, it was bestowed upon that 
 of our Union. To continue worthy of that blessing, it must be upheld in 
 its original purity : — and I know no mode so certain of preserving and sus- 
 taining it as good faith in fulfilling every one of its obligations, towards 
 every one of its members." 
 
 He improved the occasion to say a few words to 
 his native State : 
 
 "Nor is this enough for us of Pennsylvania to do. We have unguard- 
 edly, heretofore, lent a hand to impair the true spirit and meaning of the 
 federal compact, by legislating adversely to the constitutional right of pur- 
 suing fugitives from labor. That legislation has tended to bring into ques- 
 tion our fidelity to the fixed guarantee of the Union, and has, in some degree, 
 encouraged those who would cheerfully trample or break through the con- 
 stitution and rend the Union, if in so doing they can put an end to southern 
 slavery. Are we not bound then to invoke the legislature to repeal all the 
 acts inconsistent with the integrity and harmony of the Union, and espe- 
 cially to repeal those laws which inflict penalties on such of our magistracy 
 as shall aid in sustaining our federal faith, and which deny the use of our 
 prisons tb citizens engaged in executing the federal laws." 
 
 I make these extracts, because they give, in his 
 own words, the views of Mr. Dallas on the subject, 
 and also because they show his frank, bold way of 
 treating public questions, in direct, plain terms — not 
 in vague generalities or with apologetic qualifications 
 of what he believed to be the truth. This was a 
 
40 
 
 characteristic of his style of public speaking. It 
 
 was never coarse or personal, but it was always 
 explicit and manly, and left no one in doubt of his 
 
 meaning. 
 
 Mr. Dallas's last and longest term of service in 
 
 O 
 
 public office was as minister to England. Ee went 
 upon this mission in 1856 and returned in 1861. 
 During this time, serious complications occurred in 
 our relations with Great Britain, one of which led 
 to the dismissal of its minister. Mr. Crampton, by our 
 government. It was not, however, retaliated upon 
 Mr. Dallas; and in this juncture and others which 
 arose in the discussions of the "Clayton Bulwer 
 Treaty" and the "Right of Search." his wise and 
 temperate action contributed largely to the preserva- 
 tion of peace between the two countries. The diplo- 
 matic business which occupied him during the whole 
 period of his stay in England, Mas intricate, volumi- 
 nous, and important. 1 shall say nothing more of it. 
 except that Mr. Dallas had prepared for publication a 
 work which he entitled "A Series of letter- from Lon- 
 don, written during the years 1856, '57, '•">>. '59 and 
 "cn." by George Mifflin Dallas, then Minister of the 
 United States at the British Court. These letters 
 were distinct from his official dispatches and corre- 
 spondence, and embrace a greater variety of topics. 
 In a preface to them, he says : 
 
 "There were many in. . I with tl rican 
 
 Minister in London, from L861, which may illy, and perhaps 
 
 reeably, recalled from the oblivion into which they must oth< i 
 a. Todothis.no departure from the reticence lastingly exacted by 
 ic function is i i ry. A book in which tl 
 
 Bations of Paris, at the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, are portrayed 
 by a J'.niisli diplomat, was doubtfully I, because this reserve was in 
 
 a measure relaxed. I imple should be followed with watchful 
 
 raint." 
 
41 
 
 I attempt no extracts from what is all arranged for 
 complete public information. Mr. Dallas's reputation 
 in literature will rest mainly on this work and the 
 life of A. J. Dallas, yet in manuscript. He was, 
 however, the author of a large number of published 
 orations, speeches, public letters, &c. These I shall 
 not enumerate. A correct list of them may be found 
 in Allibone's Dictionary of English Literature. 
 
 At various periods of his life he kept, in a desul- 
 tory way, a diary, in which he entered his thoughts 
 and observations. It was intended, probably, only for 
 his own eye, or that of domestic affection. For entries 
 upon topics suggested by me, this diary has been 
 searched, and extracts kindly made, some of which I 
 have laid before you. 
 
 He at one time thought of writing, from these and 
 other materials, a life of himself, and he actually made 
 a beginning ; but it only adds one more to the many 
 instances in literary history of such a purpose enter- 
 tained and almost as soon abandoned. It is to be 
 regretted in this, and, indeed, in every instance, for 
 " autobiography" is always true. He who writes his 
 own life, let him say what he will, paints his own 
 character, and the few full lives of eminent men from 
 their own hands are the most interesting memoirs that 
 literature contains. 
 
 In the remarks with which I have too long de- 
 tained you, I have endeavored, as much as possible, 
 to avoid the topics of local, controversial politics. 
 Much might be said of Mr. Dallas in that sphere, 
 and all to his honor. But I have kept in mind, in 
 preparing to address this audience, that it assembles 
 
42 
 
 upon the invitation of the Barof Philadelphia, which, 
 as a body, knows no party, though among it- members 
 it always numbers distinguished men of everj party. 
 You, too, I hope, have borne in mind, that my duty 
 here, to-night, is to speak of one \\ hose chief eminence, 
 out of the profession, was in political life; and I must. 
 to sonic extent, speak of politics or be silent upon the 
 most important incidents of his career. M\ recital 
 brings me now. to a time very near the present — the 
 time of Mr. Dallas's return from England. 
 
 He had left his country great, and prosperous, and 
 happy, and with some complacency he might have 
 said that he had helped to make it so. He found his 
 country rent by civil war, and feeble against foreign 
 enemies, while its embattled hosts shook the earth as 
 they marched to mutual slaughter. It would be an 
 omission marked b} T all were I to say nothing of the 
 attitude of Mr. Dallas at ;i period the most momentous 
 of any in his long experience of the world. 1 trust, 
 however, that 1 shall not seem unmindful of the de- 
 corum of the occasion, nor of the feelings of any whom 
 1 address. 
 
 I shall not enter into the exciting controversies of 
 the day. I do not need to do so. for in them Mr. 
 Dallas bore no part. We bandy to and fro. in our 
 political discussions, the shame and the blame that 
 will rest somewhere for peace broken, tree governmenl 
 discredited, and civil liberty in danger. But, here 
 .ind now. 1 have only to sa\ that of the shame and 
 the blame no part attaches to George Milllin Dallas. 
 
 lie was away — during all thai period of precious time 
 
 ill-spent in vain discussions and bootless efforts, which 
 
' 43 
 
 failed to avert civil war. He was away: and to the 
 
 world and to posterity, to every tribunal human and 
 divine, he can plead that he was guiltless of his coun- 
 try's blood. In the technical language of the law, he 
 can prove an alibi. 
 
 Vet absence never chilled his solicitude for his 
 country, nor dimmed his foresight of the evils thai 
 threatened it. Just after the presidential election of 
 1856, a time when many statesmen deemed all danger 
 over, and many who arrogated to themselves that 
 title scoffed at the idea that there ever was or 
 could be danger to the Union, I find Mr. Dallas 
 waiting from London to a friend in this city, Mr. 
 Thomas J. Miles, on the 25th of November, 1856, 
 as follows : 
 
 "The distractions which, at tins di I to convuls n 
 
 country, ever since the presidential nominal ions, have awakened within me 
 sad and - mxiety as to the fate to which we may be destined. This 
 
 frightful sectionalism, dividing us into North and South, givin 
 former the power of population and of fanatical fierceness, and to the I 
 the strength of Constitutional right and of social necessity, presents an 
 aspect of things which would seem, for the purpose of rescue ami sal 
 almost to demand the interposition of Providence. How else is tin- Red 
 Sea to be traversed? Where is the wisdom, where the self-sacrificing 
 patriotism, the broad honor and continental nationality of s 7 and '89? 
 * What I fear is that no one will appreciate the immi- 
 nence of the danger. * * * This subject goes into my 
 feelings, owing to my being in the midst of those who show a profound 
 a.-ity td understand the fed ture of our government, and 
 keenly set on their press, their pulpits, their lecturers, their speakers, 
 ■ j, their poets and their historians, to prci ering 
 chorus for the subversion of a Constitution which shelters the Southern 
 form of African labor from their crusade." 
 
 Mr. Dallas reached his home on the 1st of dime. 
 1861. 
 
 The attitude he took, in the disastrous condition 
 of affairs in which he found his country, 1 shall show 
 by his words and actions, mingling with the recital 
 no comment of my own. 
 
44 
 
 Soon after he reached his home in Philadelphia, 
 a considerable number of his townsmen went together 
 to bis house to oiler to him their congratulations upon 
 his safe return. In a few brief remarks, he thanked 
 them for their visit and the kindness that prompted 
 it. In speaking of the times, his thoughts reverted 
 to his own service in the Senate, when " Secession. " 
 under the guise of " Nullification," had claimed, as a 
 reserved right of each State, the right, at pleasure, to 
 dissolve the Union. He said that what was perhaps 
 meditated at Hartford in 1814 had been attempted 
 by South Carolina in 1832. But he said "the Sena- 
 tors from this good old commonwealth who were 
 William Wilkins, of Pittsburg, and myself, steadily 
 insisted upon hoisting the stars and stripes high above 
 the palmetto." His resolve was still the same. He 
 concluded his address with these emphatic words : 
 
 "I come back to you, gentlemen, overwhelmed, it is true with grief at 
 th>' national calamity, bul unaltered in my inflexible determination to stand, 
 
 '"in'- weal or woe, powerless I confess, but unwaveringly, by the Union, 
 the whole Union, the Union forever." 
 
 Some time after, in the same year, he was invited 
 to deliver an oration at a "Celebration of the seventy- 
 fourth anniversary of the signing of the Constitution 
 of the United States." 
 
 1 need not sav that the devotion of his lite to that 
 great charter of free government found utterance in 
 eloquent words, which, let us hope, sank deep into 
 the hearts of all who heard them. The brief creed 
 
 of the old Statesman was "the Union and the Con- 
 stitution;" he had learned it from his father's lips, 
 and he gave it. as his best lesson, to the generation 
 that was succeeding him upon the public stage. All 
 
45 
 
 his life, he was a staunch supporter of the reserved 
 rights of the States, in which are involved the near 
 and dear and special interests of every citizen, lie 
 held up the broad shield of the Federal Constitution 
 to defend, and not to crush them; and he stood 
 opposed to all who would deprive them of its shelter. 
 Therefore, quite early in his career, in a speech at 
 Pittsburg, he denounced the attempt to impose 
 unconstitutional restrictions on Missouri ; therefore, 
 with his latest breath, he denounced the false and 
 suicidal doctrine of "secession." His clear mind saw 
 what the best minds of the South saw also — that the 
 way to defend the citadel of constitutional liberty was 
 to strengthen its garrison, to man its ramparts ; not 
 to march out and abandon them before a practicable 
 breach was made by their assailants. Looking to 
 the interests of his whole country, Dallas demanded 
 from the people of the Southern States, for their sake 
 and our own, the observance of the Federal compact 
 that their fathers made with ours. He made no 
 rasures in that solemn act; he interpolated no new 
 terms; and asking what was just and offering what 
 was just, he did not despair of the republic. His last 
 public utterance was like the last words of the great 
 Earl of Chatham, whose dying accents warned a 
 besotted ministry to act justly by the people of 
 America, and who died exclaiming, "I will never 
 consent to a dismemberment of the empire." 
 
 In private intercourse he gave his opinions freely 
 to those who enjoyed his confidence. His hopes for 
 the future of our country were consistent with the 
 political opinions of his life. He looked for the sal- 
 
46 
 
 ration of free institutions through the reascendency, 
 in the administration of the government, of those 
 principles which he, and his father before him, deemed 
 indispensable to its existence as a government lit for 
 a free people. 
 
 I am not informed of any other assemblages of a 
 public character which he took part in, or attended, 
 after his return from England. At every election. 
 however, he exercised his franchise as a citizen. As 
 facts essential to complete my notice of his political 
 course, I mention thai in 18G3, when our present 
 Chief Justice was a candidate for governor of Pennsyl- 
 vania, .Mr. Dallas voted for him; and in 1864. lie voted 
 for the electoral ticket of McClellan and Pendleton. 
 
 His remaining years were not spenl in repose. He 
 did not, 1 think, on any occasion, appear in the courts; 
 hut large and important interests sought in his expe- 
 rience and integrity a fit guardianship, and he was 
 busy to the end of a life protracted beyond tin- " three- 
 score years and ten" that are assigned as the common 
 limit to human activity and enjoyment. 
 
 He died on the last day of the year L864, with no 
 premonition from serious illness. But he who lives 
 the life that he did, need not care how suddenly it is 
 taken from him. Apter reflections than 1 could make 
 on the event are furnished by the diary of .Mr. Dallas; 
 they were written nearly thirty years before his own 
 
 decease : 
 
 " 1 rrief is perhaps always -.-ltish : we wish that to have occurred which 
 would have brought the catastrophe with the least <lii»-k i" ourselves; an 
 
 \ '", mi! ly, led i" wis! 1 that the suffering of a dear friend might 
 
 -"••I. that light slowly have become accustomed 
 
 to tli i['lation of the inevitable end. Death is always an appalling 
 
 object : it must, howe\ ei , b< met by all, and if it come at an advai 
 
17 
 
 when all the aims of existence have been achieved, and, it' Btriking indie 
 criminately al both mind and body al thi ame moment, it closes tl 
 with reasonable expedition, where.is the ground of complaint for the living? 
 We may mourn, and deeply mourn, thai the course of natun i versus from 
 those we love, but it that course be consummated in due Beason, and with 
 the least possible pain to the victim, we really have nothing to do but to 
 t>ow submissively to the will of God."- Nov. 1, 1837. 
 
 His death, it was thought, was caused l>v disease 
 of the heart; if so. the malady had not before be- 
 trayed itself, by any apparent symptoms. His health 
 had been uniformly good, though not robust, and he 
 probably owed it to regularity, temperance and equa- 
 nimity of mind. In writing of it quite late in life, 
 he says, after mentioning that his had been a sickly 
 childhood : 
 
 " My quantum of ill health, endured then, has loft my subsequent life 
 almost exempt from complaint of any kind. When I look back and remem- 
 ber how little and how lightly disease has visited my body, 1 feel a warm 
 and thankful gratitude tor tin- providential indulgence." 
 
 I will add a few words upon points to which I have 
 not adverted. 
 
 Of his religious faith, I shall imitate him in- saying 
 little. I need not urge for him the plea, 
 
 " His can't l>e wrong, whose life is in the right." 
 
 The faith of Mr. Dallas corresponded to his life 
 and works. He was a Christian, as his outward 
 practice and recorded meditations prove. He attendee I 
 public worship at St. Stephen's, the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church, in Tenth, above Chestnut street. 
 
 You all remember his personal appearance, towhich 
 his bearing lent a peculiar elegance. His gray, or 
 rather white hair had changed to that color very early 
 in life, and thus was not, in him, associated with the 
 idea of age, but it certainly heightened the dignity 
 of his aspect. 
 
48 
 
 Manners speak to the eye, and words fail to de- 
 scribe them. Some might call his imposing, none 
 would call them haughty or pretentious ; yet if he had 
 conic among a crowd of strangers, all would have 
 said "this is sonic man of mark." But his manners 
 were not artificial. nor put on for parade; they were the 
 natural outward expression of an elevated mind. 
 They were democratic in this, that they rendered to 
 every man the respect due to his manhood. He was 
 as courteous to the poorest as he was to the proudest ; 
 yet he never courted popularity by any low art-. 
 With him "the people" meant all his fellow citizens, 
 and he stood before them in the true dignity and 
 decency of his character. He never slandered any 
 portion of them by putting on the habits of the pot 
 house as the way to their favor. 
 
 No man was a firmer republican; I use tin' word 
 in no party sense that it has ever borne. He looked 
 closelyinto the structure of foreign governments, and 
 he preferred his own. The iron hand of despotic 
 power never struck or threatened him; it was gloved 
 and jewelled when it welcomed him to its courts. 
 But his eye was never dazzled by the pomp and glare 
 of royalty; he saw the hollowness of absolutism: and 
 his faith in popular government was never a jot abated. 
 
 lie seemed to set little store on wealth. l!is 
 means were the current earnings of professional labor. 
 or the smaller emoluments of the posts he lilted. In 
 all of them his hands were clean : he never left ollice 
 richer than he entered it. Sometimes, he may have 
 sustained temporary inconvenience from the interrup- 
 tions in the regular course of his business. Hut he 
 
49 
 
 never discounted the future. He preferred to work 
 and wait; and soon the sunshine of professional 
 success cleared away any clouds that lowered upon 
 his path, when, as his father said, "he began the 
 world again" in coming back to the Bar, from his 
 different terms of public service. As a part of his 
 good example, I may not omit to say, that it was. 
 through life, a point of pride with him never to 
 borrow, and he never did. His intimate friends who 
 tell me this, regard it, justly, as a rare point of 
 character, under the circumstances, and in our day 
 of notes, indorsements, and accommodations. It 
 is a trait of the independent spirit that marked 
 him in private and public life. Living mainly by 
 the practice of the law in a commercial city, he 
 did not hesitate, on two important subjects, to run 
 counter to what were thought to be its interests. 
 Through life he was the champion of the poorer 
 many, rather than of the richer few. Yet no 
 man was more refined and cultivated in his tastes, 
 nor more adapted to the elegant enjoyments that 
 may spring from the good use of wealth. He had 
 none of the morbid sensibility that cloisters itself 
 from contact with the world. He was one of those 
 who seek tranquility — not in solitary retreats — but 
 in their own hearts, made calm by culture, religion, 
 and philosophy. To these, as much as to natural 
 temperament, he owed the equanimity of his mind. 
 His diary show T s whence he drew support in moments 
 of depression : 
 
 "If they grow on mo. I will resort to the only cure, a sincere pray 
 Almighty < I <1. whose divine influence, on the mind, at least, I have n 
 failed to experience, when fervently invoked. — \0th January, 1832." 
 
50 
 
 But his temper was generally cheerful. He joined 
 in all innocent amusements, and thought the moderate 
 enjoyment of them, in the social circle, was the best 
 safe-guard for the young against the abuse of them 
 elsewhere. He liked society ; he was " an ornament 
 to society." and this hackneyed phrase has so just and 
 literal a significance, when applied to him, that I do 
 not refrain from using it. Yet in a wide and varied 
 intercourse with the world, he led as pure a life as 
 any that avoids temptation in retirement. From his 
 earliest youth, he seems to have set up to himself the 
 highest standard of moral purity and to have adhered 
 to it, at home and abroad, in the luxurious capitals of 
 Europe as in our own national capital, where vice 
 loses none of its evil by losing any of its grossness. 
 
 Let us flatter ourselves, if we can, that this eminent 
 son of our city was in character and culture peculiarly 
 a Philadelphian. Certainly he was deeply imbued 
 with the spirit of which the name, at least, is familiar 
 to all the dwellers in the city that is called by it. 
 The amenity, the genial kindness of his nature shone 
 in all his intercourse with his fellow men. His asso- 
 ciates, his friends, and in foreign lands all his country- 
 men could command his good offices to the extent of 
 his power, and he was liberal to the utmost limit of 
 his means. 
 
 In each relation, filial, marital, paternal, he per- 
 formed his duties with a tenderness and care that may 
 exalt ourview of human nature. I feel thai I cannot 
 portray the beauty of his domestic life. My deficiency 
 may be, in some degree, supplied, by recurring to the 
 picture of the father's life, from the son's pen. with 
 
51 
 
 which I opened this address. In mature years, when 
 a family circle had gathered round him, George Dallas, 
 1 >y nature rather than by conscious imitation, lived 
 himself the life he has described. Both these eminent 
 men have left the weight of their authority against 
 an austere system of domestic discipline. They were 
 the companions of their children, and heightened 
 instead of losing their respect, in winning their confi- 
 dence and love. 
 
 I have told you the story of his life. My aim has 
 been to show it by his own words and actions, adding 
 what I knew or learned from those who knew him 
 long and well. 
 
 I have now no pomp of phrase, no language of 
 conventional eulogy, in which to praise it. Say for 
 yourselves, if it was a virtuous, patriotic, memorable 
 life — a worthy example to us and to our children. 
 
W46 
 

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