Sir, in all that mighty tide of valor that poured from hill and plain, in all the mighty and majestic armies that gathered in this northern land beneath the folds of the flag of the Union, how many elements, how many emotions, how many different impulses there were! There was youth with no knowledge of the realities, the terrible sufferings of war, gathered there perhaps from the high and chivalric impulse to dare the dangers of the field. To such there was something of pride in the perils of war, and they were eager and ready to rush to the fray to pluck some laurel from the battle-field. There were others that rallied in those grand armies from a feeling of philanthropy. Their inspiration and thought was that they were beari..g liberty and enfranchisement and equal rights to a downtrodden and long-oppressed race. There were perhaps a few who were animated by sectional hate; but there were hundreds and thousands whose sole idea and sentiment was the preservation of the Union. In entering upon that terrible struggle General WILLIAMS was animated by no love of war, no thirst for glory. He had been in the tented field; he had "drunk in the earthquake of the guns"; he had seen the writhing of the wounded; he had marked the pale scathed faces of the dead; he had seen how war's hostile hoofs trenched the land and blotted out its very civilization; and from this spectacle of gathering strife his kindly and brave heart shrank. Nor was there with him any of the sentiment of philanthropy. From his standpoint, to his political views, the peculiar institutions of the South were guaranteed by the Constitution, nor did he believe that lawful power existed to touch or destroy it. Nor with him was there the mere sentiment of the preservation of the Union. There was to him something beyond; the preservation of the Constitution, the absolute salvation of republican government. In his belief liberty itself was imperiled, and imperiled too by the rash acts of his own countrymen.

Sir, I can well imagine how that patriotic, that kindly heart would have averted the storm-how like Curtius he would have leaped into

the gulf to save the Union and to preserve peace. I can well fancy that with him there was no passion, no hate, no other sentiment animating his heart than the high and noble and splendid impulse of duty and of loyalty to his country, loyalty to her free institutions; and sternly, bravely, sadly, without passion, a splendid type of the conservative sentiment of the war democracy of the North, he went down to do battle for the Union and the Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, I was of those who fought in the armies against which General WILLIAMS drew his sword. But I would be indeed blinded by prejudice and insensate of soul did I fail to appreciate and to candidly avow the honest, the sincere convictions of duty, the lofty, unbending, and sacred sense of loyalty which animated his soul when in sorrow rather than in anger my brother drew his sword upon me and my people, and without passion or hatred, solemnly and patiently, sadly but sternly, fought on until victory crowned his efforts with her smile. I trust, sir, the time may soon come when prejudice and passion shall no longer prevent us from clearly seeing and manfully according honesty of purpose and purity of motive to all Americans who engaged in our unhappy strife. When that time comes we will be very near the glorious day of perfect peace and reunion. How nobly General WILLIAMS bore himself in that civil war has been told. He exhibited the highest qualities of the American soldier, and in an eminent degree developed great capacity to command, while he illustrated a lion-like courage which made him seem at times to defy danger and to court death upon the field. This quality won from the common soldier that endearing and familiar epithet of "Old Fighting Pap," which followed him in peace, and which will live forever. Those who followed him can well remember with a soldier's pride that brow which was so calm amid whistling bullets, that form which rode with such death-defying heroism right amid the blaze of hostile guns, and that death-scorning courage that seemed to find its congenial home upon the battle-field where brave men fought and bled

and died for what they deemed was right. And the "star of the field that poured its beams upon his battle" and led him at last to victory was simply the light of his life, the star of duty. It was his "pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night." He followed it as steadfastly and with the same faith that the prophet of Israel of old followed that which the Almighty's hand had upreared before his wondering and adoring gaze; and at last it led him to victory and peace.

And, Mr. Speaker, with General WILLIAMS the cessation of the war meant peace. His heroic soul was too noble to taunt the fallen; his brave heart was too manly to desire to persecute the humiliated and the conquered, and no sooner had that sword, as knightly and as chivalrous as ever bathed in the battle-light, or ever pointed the way to victory, been sheathed, than the hand which had so heroically wielded it was all busy with deeds of kindness, with endeavors to bind up the wounds of the war.

Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar with his career here. Suffice it to say that duty guided him in all his ways and acts in this Hall. We miss him from his accustomed place. His seat is vacant. We miss his valued counsels, his great labors, his cheerful presence, and the strength we reposed in him. Death found him, while life had seemed ever to place him in the discharge of his duty; still at his post, in the midst of his committee-room, discharging and prosecuting the duties of his committee, the arrow of death found him. The winter of his life had been reached; its fullness was completed; it was well finished, filled to the full measure of duty done. We bore him away to slumber in the soil of his adopted State.

And as Michigan, mourning Michigan, opened her arms to receive within her embrace all that remained of ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS, to hold him forever in his final sleep, I can fancy that she kissed his cold forehead and said "No son hath served me more faithfully and more acceptably than thou."

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There, in her fond breast may he sweetly rest. Ay,

Soldier, rest; thy warfare o'er,

Sleep the sleep that knows no waking;
Dream of battle-fields no more,

Days of danger, nights of waking.

Yes; softly, sweetly, sleep in the bosom of thy adopted State. The flowers will bloom and the birds will sing above thee, and nature around thy last resting-place shall fling all the beauties that the changing seasons know. But no birdling's song, no flower's perfumed breath, shall be purer or sweeter than were the emanations of thy soul. And no sunset cloud nor line of life shall be more grand, more beautiful than the example which thou hast left us.

Mr. Speaker, we soon forget life's trials, all life's struggles, all life's achievements. But the majesty of death's seal impresses men's souls and dares them to forget. And such a life as that which we mourn to-day finished by death, shall live forever.

It was a heathen poet, I believe, who said:

In the halls that our feasts illume,

The rose for one hour may bloom;

But the cypress that grows 'round the tomb,

Ah! the cypress is green forever.

ADDRESS OF MR. ELLSWORTH, OF MICHIGAN,

Mr. SPEAKER: I am pleased to add my humble tribute to the memory of our lamented friend and brother.

Sir, we are standing where the graves of our fallen comrades of the present Congress are thick. The statesman full of years and experience has dropped out of the ranks and gone to a higher assemblage. The mature man, in the full bloom and blossom of life, has drifted away to the spirit land, and the boatman with the silent oar has

passed again, and the young man in his beauty and his glory has
floated away to the other shore. Even while you look upon the man
who comes in here full of hope and happiness, brimming over with
energy and enterprise, anxious and ambitious to make for himself a
name that will not die-while he stands before you in his pride, his
life goes out, and he is gone forever. What a commentary on the
pride and vanity of man.

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
Man passes from life to his rest in the grave.

'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath,
From the blossom of health, to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud—
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Why, sir, look around you, and see the silent resting-places of the dead. Here lies the great Senator and statesman from Indiana, so long the Boanerges of the Senate, whose war record has immortalized his name and will keep his memory green through the ages. The eyes of the millions loyal to the old flag are still wet with the tears his taking-off summoned from loving hearts. Here sleeps the silent form of the gallant and gracious Bogy, from the great State beyond the Mississippi; and here reposes all that is left of the educated and eloquent Leonard, the cultivated and classic gentleman from the Gulf, whose thoughts were wisdom and whose words were music; and here rests the manly and once majestic form of our hero, MajorGeneral ALPHEUS S. WILLIAMS, the brave soldier and the wise and liberal-minded statesman, the gallant officer and the genial friend, the wise counselor and the knightly gentleman, the pure judge and the safe commander; and here, too, is the statesman from the land of flowers, the gifted and graceful gentleman from Savannah, the eloquent and accomplished Hartridge, whose praises are chanted

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