In the recapitulation of the life of this great and good man we are charmed with a versatile richness that has no parallel on the historic page. He filled every sphere in which he moved to the remotest lines of its orbit. No matter how bright the galaxy around him he was a luminary of the first magnitude. He entered upon the stage of notion at a time when the world needed just such a man and continued upon it just long enough to complete all he had commenced. He was found equal to every work he undertook and always stopped at the golden point--when he had finished. He was emphatically the architect of his own fortune. No chartered college can claim him as a graduate--no patron rendered him gratuitous aid. Let the young men of our country imitate his examples that they may become useful--let our public men who have in charge our national destiny imitate them that they may be wise--let old men imitate them that they may be revered--let us _all_ imitate them that we may do all the good we can to our fellow men in life and be happy in death. HORATIO GATES. War is a calamity to be deprecated at all times. Its history, from its sanguinary embryo to the present time, has but a few bright spots on which the philanthropist can gaze with admiring delight. The back-ground of most of these is so vividly shaded with crimson that the eye grows dim and the heart sickens on too close a scrutiny. We have many among us who preach loudly against war without delineating the innate materials in human nature that cause it. We have anti-war societies that have originated from motives pure as heaven but are planted on the abstract foundation of ills--futile as the baseless vision. Its evils may be portrayed in colors clear as the sunbeams of living light and enforced by all the arguments of human logic and Holy Writ without removing the smallest particle from the _cause_ that produces this fearful calamity. This and the best remedy are not fully defined by the preamble, constitution or by-laws of any society within my knowledge and where partially explained are not always practically carried out by the members. _They_ sometimes engage in a fierce personal war. The cause exists in the nature of man influenced by the baser passions. Retaliation is among the first developments of the child. Self is a relentless tyrant. Revenge is as natural as our respiration. Anger, envy, jealousy, malice--all combine to perpetuate a disposition for war and lead men from the sublime destiny of immortal bliss.