Immediately the discussion was over, and while the accents of
that _cycnea vox_ reverberated in the ears of all who heard the last
effort of his eloquence, he began the preparation for his argument with
Mr. Tazewell. His application was too intense; his strength, and health,
and life, sunk under it; and they who hastened from a distance to
witness the competition, beheld anticipated victory and triumph turned
into a funeral procession: _O fallacem hominum spem, fragilemque
fortunam, et inanes nostras contentiones!_"
The reader will keep in mind that this sketch by Mr. Gilmer was written
nearly forty years ago, and before Mr. Tazewell appeared in the Senate
of the United States.
No. IV.
EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF MR. TAZEWELL RESPECTING PUBLIC OFFICE.
Mr. Tazewell kept no copies of his letters to his friends, and I make
the subjoined extracts, explanatory of his views respecting public
office, wholly from those in my own possession. I may state here that
when a commissioner was appointed to Kentucky, in 1823, Mr. Tazewell was
consulted on the subject by some of his friends in the General Assembly,
and he agreed to undertake the office; but when he heard that the
friends of Benjamin Watkins Leigh, his warm personal friend, desired the
appointment of that distinguished jurist, he sent a peremptory
withdrawal of his name, and urged the nomination of Mr.
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