During the next year his health declined rapidly, and in April, shortly after his unanimous election to the legislature, he was prostrated by a severe attack of the gout, which terminated his long and useful life, leaving a large family of children to mourn the loss of a kind father, and his country to lament the exit of one of her noblest patriots. He was the father of General Harrison of Ohio, whose name is now before the public as a candidate for the next president of the United States. The private character of this zealous champion of liberty was without reproach. His wit and humour made him a pleasant companion, his intelligence and good sense made him an interesting one. His clear head, good heart, sound judgment and equable moderation, made him an important public servant, exactly suited to the times in which he lived. CÆSAR RODNEY. Genealogy was once an essential part, the first stepping stone of biography, a kind of titular idol held in great veneration. In countries where the iron sceptre of monarchy is still swayed, where titles of honour create lineal dignity without regard to merit, where blood is analyzed by political chemistry and all the precipitants are rejected but the carbonate of noble pedigree, where royalty descends upon a _non compos mentis_ incumbent with the same facility that it reaches a man of good intellect, genealogy is still measurably the criterion by which to determine the importance and degree of character. As light and intelligence shed their benignant rays upon mankind, the importance attached to this titular deity will be diminished. Where rational liberty reigns triumphant, merit alone creates dignity; the man is measured by his actions, not by the purple fluid that flows through his veins. In our free country genealogy is a matter of curiosity, not of veneration. The son of a coal cracker, or of a cobbler, whose father may have been a foundling, can rise to the highest station within the gift of the people by the force of talent and merit. I am aware that the aristocracy of wealth is a noxious weed that sheds its deleterious influence around us, but not yet sufficiently strong to prevent genius from acquiring a rapid and towering growth. In times of danger and peril its power will be lessened in the same ratio that these increase. It withers and dies when reached by the magic wand of republican patriotism. Then “what is a name, my lord?”