AMES, FISHER. On the illustrious subject of the present article, we feel most sensibly how difficult it is to think without emotion, or to speak with that coolness and sclf-controul, that temperance and impartiality, that be come the biographer. If, however, on any point of his tory, it be admissible to indulge in the language of sen sibility, it is when attempting to portray the virtues and talents, the dispositions and achievements, of so excel lent, so amiable, and so distinguished an individual. He was one of those extraordinary characters, that, at long intervals, a beneficent providence calls into existence, to instruct, delight, and astonish mankind. Had he been a citizen of Greece, when in the zenith of her glory, or of Rome, during the period of her fairest renown, he would have been pre-eminent in the ranks of statesmen and legislators, patriots and orators. In modern times, few men, devoted exclusively to civil pursuits, have moved in a sphere more elevated and radiant. From the commencement till near the close of his public ca reer, which, alas ! was almost as transient as it was bril ilant, although associated with the ablest men of the nation, his wisdom in council, and his eloquence in de bate, imposed on him the arduous and responsible office of a leader, in many of the most intricate concerns of legislation. As long as the state of his health enabled him to persevere in the exertions necessary lOr main taining the station he had acquired, his ascendency in the house of representatives of the United States was as sensibly felt and as generally acknowledged, as that of Pox or Pitt, Burke or even Chatham, in the British parliament.
Wnen we contemplate him surrounded by all the at tributes of character, that justly appertained to him ; a mind rich in the most splendid endowments of nature, heightened by whatever cultivation could bestow ; heart pregnant with every moral virtue, and glowing with the purest and noblest sentiments ; a social tem perament consisting of every quality calculated to conci liate, delight, and endear ; and a zeal for the welfare of his country, and the happiness of his fellow citizens, which burned with a vestal purity and vigilance, and was too ardent for the strength of his finely organized and sensitive frame ;*—when we view him thus elevated by his native powers, and clothed in excellencies so nume rous and resplendent, we can with difficulty set bounds to our admiration and esteem, or prevent our affection from rising to enthusiasm. It is when engaged in the con
templation of such a character that we feel most incli ned to glory in our birth-right, and experience the live liest sense of gratitude for the privilege conferred on us, of belonging to an order of beings so exalted.
When society is deprived by death of an individual so eminent, it devolves as a duty on those who survive him, if to emulate his greatness be too hopeless an undertaking, at least to cherish his memory, and prac tise his virtues ; and, by recording his character in the most public and permanent form, to extend and per petuate his example, for the benefit of mankind.
The principal end of biography is threefold to de light, to instruct, and to stimulate. The first of these objects is effected chiefly by a recital of the actions, and a view of the virtues and dispositions, of eminent men, connected with an account of the various inci dents and events of their lives ; the second, by a faith ful representation of the methods and measures, by which their eminence was gradually attained ; and the third, by holding forth the honours confered on them, and the influence and consideration they had acquired in the world, as incentives to awaken the emulation of others. When biography has accomplished this treble purpose, besides doing justice to distinction and worth, and grati fying that universal and laudable curiosity, which is so eager to be made acquainted with the lives of great men, she encourages the timid, gives hope to the de sponding, rouses the inactive, furnishes the enterprising with a chart for their conduct, and teaches every one to turn to the best account, the powers and means with which he is intrusted. With a view to the promotion of objects like these, as well as in grateful commemo ration of the merits of the deceased, we have ventured to prepare a biographical notice of the illustrious per sonage under our consideration.