He had never been a judge, and was not even a lawyer, so that the technicalities and subtilties of the profession had no chance of enslaving him. Besides, to a nature like his, independent and self-poised, what were the sophisms of learning and skill, when employed in the support of Wrong? It was enough, that, wherever Slavery appeared, it was in defiance of that commanding law of Right, before which all unjust pretensions, whatever form they take, must disappear like the morning dew under the flashing arrows of the ascending sun. From the beginning and at all times he was fixed against all compromise with Slavery, and stood like a fortress. Sir, let it be spoken here in his honor. He lies cold in death, but he could have no better epitaph than this: “_Here rests one who would not compromise with Wrong_.” When Senators and Presidents bent to the ignoble behest, he stood firm. He was gifted to see that Slavery, unlike Tariff or Bank, did not come within the range of compromise any more than the Decalogue or Multiplication Table. He saw well how shamefully unconstitutional and inhuman was the Fugitive Slave Act, in spite of every apology of compromise, and refused it all support. He lies cold in death, but his principles will live to sweep this unutterable atrocity from the statute-book, which it still fills from cover to cover with blackness. He was not only a faithful counsellor of perfect loyalty, in whom truth was a religion and an instinct, but he was a counsellor whose experience of mankind and of public life united with aptitude for affairs in giving to what he said added value. He sat for several years in the other House face to face with Slave-Masters, who then ruled the country, so that he knew them well in every respect, but especially in their open brutality and surpassing effrontery. During this period, while shut out from participation in the public business, his duty was that of champion, and nobly did he perform it. But those who watched him under the responsibility recently cast upon a Representative of his character observed that he developed a practical talent which rendered him useful, not only as champion, but also as workman in the machine of government. He was a supporter of the present Administration, and of that declared policy which, according to the motto of Algernon Sidney, adopted on the arms of Massachusetts, seeks “placid quiet under Liberty,”--_placidam sub Libertate quietem_. There are few among his associates who may not be instructed and inspired by his magnanimous example.