and responsible duties of which station he devoted himself with constant assiduity, he brought forward a bill, accompanied by a report, to grant to the State of Tennessee the public lands of the United States lying within her limits. These lands had been the subject of a report and bill by President Polk, when he was representative from Tennessee, the object of which likewise was to grant them to that state. The bill reported by Mr. M'Clernand became a law.

No member has given a more zealous support to the administration in its measures touching the Mexican war. He has voted to place at the disposal of the executive all the men and money demanded to give success to our arms. His views as to the justice of the war, the plan of prosecuting it, and its consequences, were fully expressed in a speech delivered on the 16th of June, 1846.

During the first session of the twenty-ninth Congress, he brought forward one of the most important measures then attracting public attention, the bill to reduce and graduate the price of the public lands, upon the principles and details of which he had bestowed great consideration.

A bill for a similar purpose was reported a few days later by Mr. Breese, in the Senate, and passed that body. When sent to the House, where the original House bill was under consideration, it was taken up in preference to the other, and, having been amended, was passed. The Senate amended the amendments of the House, and the bill, when again returned to the House at a very late period of the session, was laid on the table.

At the ensuing session, as chairman of the same committee, he took an active part in favor of the bill to bring into market the mineral region lying around Lake Superior, valuable for its extent, and the quantity and rich quality of the copper found. there. This was the consummation of the policy commenced during the previous session, by a similar bill, reported from the Committee on Public Lands, for the sale of the lead lands in Illinois, Iowa, Ouisconsin, and Arkansas, which became a law.

He voted, at the last session, against the Wilmot Proviso, taking an independent position, and opposing the agitation of the question of slavery as ill timed and unwise.

He is not understood to have at any time denied the power

of Congress to appropriate money for needful national objects of internal improvement, but he has denied the policy of the exercise of such a power upon the ground that, from experience and the comparative irresponsibility of the members of Congress (selected in each instance either by a state or a district) to the whole people of the Union, the power must be abused. He has voted accordingly.

During the last session, he was called on by the Jackson Monument Committee to present their memorial, which he did. On that occasion he pronounced a eulogy on General Jackson which was highly esteemed, and which we noted at the time for transfer to these pages. He said:

"Mr. Speaker, I rise for the purpose of presenting the memorial of the Jackson Monument Committee of this city, praying Congress to place at the disposal of that committee four brass cannon and two brass mortars, weighing in all 4930 pounds, to be used as material in constructing a monument to General Andrew Jackson, and to ask for the memorial the favorable consideration of this honorable body. Too much praise can not be bestowed upon the members of this committee for their zeal and public spirit in so noble an enterprise, or upon the country for the promptness and liberality with which they have responded to it. To this extent they have disproved the charge, if it be not altogether untrue, that republics are ungrateful. The committee represent that they are now assured ample means may be obtained by voluntary contributions to ensure the early completion of the monument. They state that the column of Napoleon, formed after the model of that of the Emperor Trajan, is made of the caunon taken by Napoleon at the battle of Austerlitz; that the equestrian statue of Wellington, now in course of completion, is to be made of the brass pieces captured by that general at Waterloo; and it satisfactorily appears that the pieces asked for are the same which were captured by General Jackson in a gallant and brilliant affair at Pensacola in 1814, and that they are now unserviceable. From these considerations, the committee appeal to Congress to devote these pieces to the purpose of perpetuating the form of the illustrious chief whose skill and valor gave them to his country. This disposition of these trophies is peculiarly appropriate; not that 'sculptured stone' or 'ever-during brass' can add to the imperishable renown of Andrew Jackson, but because it is just that a statue raised by a grateful people to the memory of a departed hero should embody in its form a part, at least, of the tokens of his victories. It is not only sanctioned by custom, but is eminently proper as a means of perpetuating the influence of the virtuous and patriotic examples of the illustrious dead.' This is not the proper occasion to pronounce a formal ealogy upon the man whose last aspirations were for the welfare, the glory, and happiness of his country. But I may be allowed to say that Andrew Jackson was a man of no common order. Left fatherless and friendless in his youth, he wrote the word 'excelsior' upon his crest, and pushed his way upward and onward to power and distinction, from the rank of a private to that of a general, and from the position of a citizen to that of chief magistrate of the republic. The name of Jackson--the indomitable-the strong-willed-the honest-the unflinching-the man of iron-has become a household word to his countrymen, an invocation of patriotism and duty to all lands. What he said and did is written on that record of words and deeds accumulated from the heroism and wisdom of

ages; and there, as a lesson and incentive to posterity, it will be written forever. Endowed, perhaps, with a less bold and subtle philosophy than Jefferson, with a less dazzling and theoretic genius than Napoleon, he was the equal of both in energy and concentration of purpose-their superior in the attribute of common sense. His principles were lofty and stern-proof alike against power and corruption. As Aristides, he could have written, unmoved, the ballot of his own ostracism, or watched, untempted by the flickering torches of night, over the treasure which strewed the field of Marathon. As a general, he was active and daring, yet vigilant and judicious. To constancy and fortitude he added impetuous and almost romantic valor. At the battle of New Orleans he won the crowning glory of his military career. There he confirmed the great truth proclaimed upon the classic plains of Platæa-the pre-eminence of free states, in the defense of their hearth-stones and independence, over the unwieldy empires of crowned conquerors. As it is the habit of a free people to delegate great authority to one man, who is the reflex of the popular will--the individualized Argora, through which the voice of a nation is heard in after ages-so it is not to be wondered that Jackson, with such qualities as he possessed, should have been that man to the people of his time. The pride we feel in the man is not a partisan pride. It arises from what he did for his country. There are many in this hall who bearded him-unsuccessfully, it is true, but fearlessly-when he was wrapped in his pride of power and place, and wielded with boldness and energy the sword of state. But this arose from honest difference of opinion. It was not discreditable to them nor him. All that fierce denunciation, generated and sustained by party zeal, has passed away with its cause. There is no Vandal hand to tear away the first leaf in his chaplet of laurel; and the smoke of detraction which was to obscure his fame has passed away forever. I have no more to add. I am confident that the prayer of the memorialists will be granted by this honorable House.”

In 1846 Mr. M'Clernand was elected a third time to Congress, and again without opposition. In the course of the past summer he was frequently called upon to address the soldiers returning from the war. At a public dinner given in Fairfield, on the occasion of the celebration of the return of the Illinois Volunteers, being called for, he delivered an address to the assembled multitude, numbering near four thousand persons, which thus concludes:

“I can not, gentlemen, like many of you, claim the merit of having served my country in the present war, but I have strove, nevertheless, to do my duty in another branch of the public service. As your representative in Congress, I have voted all the supplies demanded to give success to our arms; perhaps no one has labored more earnestly to secure the soldier a just compensation for his patriotic services than myself. For the first time since the establishment of the government, a bounty of land has been granted to volunteers by the act of the last Congress. This was right; such a provision will enable the meritorious soldier to retire to an independent home, blessed by the charms of domestic life, if he should survive the chances of war. With my opinions, if I had voted otherwise, I would have felt myself as guilty as the judgment of the world has pronounced the Scots who sold their king for money.

"Now, gentlemen, in conclusion, allow me to exhort you to support our civil institutions as one of the highest duties incumbent upon citizens and patriots, Study and understand their twofold character; remember that they are both local

and general, state and federal; and to what is federal, accord the things that are federal; to what is state, the rights of the states. In short, uphold the whole system by confining the action of its several parts to their appointed spheres. Thus guarded and protected, the Union will long endure as the arc of our political safety: like the grain of mustard-seed compared in the parable to the kingdom of God, it will grow and continue to grow until its shadow shall cover the whole earth."

The public life of Mr. M'Clernand has been remarkably act ive, successful, and full of events. His habits are laborious and persevering; and if there is one attribute which shines conspicuous in his character, it is his indomitable energy. His style of speaking is clear and argumentative, and his devotion to the political principles he professes of the most ardent description. In all matters of public duty, as well as of individ ual business interests, his constituents have found in him a laborious and faithful representative.