In 1825 he was elected by the General Assembly a Senator of the United States over some distinguished competitors, and soon after taking his seat was called upon to discuss the celebrated Piracy bill of Mr. Monroe's administration; and in a speech on that measure, which he defeated, displayed such extraordinary resources of argument and learning as threw all his associates of that epoch in the shade, and established his own reputation as the greatest debater of his age. He was a prominent member of the Convention of Virginia in 1829-30, where his compeers were Chief Justice Marshall, John Randolph, Watkins Leigh, Taylor, Upshur, and others of that brilliant assembly. He was at the same time a Senator from Virginia in Congress; and was in nothing behind the great personages of the Senate, where sat Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, save only in his invincible desire and love of retirement. In 1833-4 he resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States, and soon after, and almost without his knowledge, he was elected Governor of Virginia, the duties of which office he actively and faithfully performed until his resignation, which took place before the expiration of his term. From that time he has continued in private life--but not uselessly, for he has been consulted from all parts of the Union on almost all subjects; and by his intimate acquaintances, his opinions have been regarded as oracular inspirations. He has also attended with care to his private duties, and these, with his correspondence, have chiefly occupied his later years. It has been the subject of deep regret that one possessing such colossal powers should have been so unwilling to exert them. There is but one instance in history of a really great man seeking an obscurity which he could not win,--the case of Chief Justice Wilmot, of England. But Mr. Tazewell had the right to judge and decide for himself, and that he preferred private to public life is rather to be lamented than complained of. Nor must it be supposed that this preference was the effect of indolence. On the contrary, he was, in his way, a laborious man, and it may be that the leisure of his latter years may have been productive of important fruits in literature and science to those who have survived him. We will not, and need not, dwell upon the private relations of Mr. Tazewell, in all of which he had no superior; and although for many years he has been a stranger upon our streets, yet we feel that even in a social point of view we have sustained a loss which cannot be repaired. There is great sadness in our city, which pervades all its ranks, and which even those who never saw him deeply feel. We add no more than to offer our unaffected sympathy to his family. DESCRIPTION OF MR. TAZEWELL, BY THE LATE WILLIAM WIRT, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.