GENTLEMEN:--In complying with your request for a copy of my discourse,
delivered this morning, it is proper that I should state the
circumstances under which it was prepared. When I accepted from the bar
the office of delivering a discourse on the life and character of Mr.
Tazewell, I said to the meeting that, from the state of my eyes, I could
not probably prepare it before the fall; but, having been unexpectedly
detained in Norfolk beyond my usual time of leaving it for the country,
and fearing from the state of my own health and from the uncertainty of
human affairs, that, if I postponed the discourse till the fall, I might
be prevented from preparing it then, I determined to do the work, as
well as I could, at once, and the result is the discourse of which I
read a portion to you this morning.
It is hastily written, and written almost wholly from my own mind, and,
I may add, for the meridian of Virginia; but I have ventured to send it
to you, such as it is, and I indulge the hope that, humble as it is, it
may serve to recall, in some slight measure at least, and until some
better memorial be prepared, the recollections of a statesman who was
long the pride of his native commonwealth, and who stood to most of you
in the intimate and endearing relation of a personal friend.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206