In 1786 Gen. Irvine was elected to Congress and proved an efficient and valuable member. He was active and useful in the board to settle the accounts between the states and the general government. He was a member of the Pennsylvania convention that sanctioned the Federal Constitution. In 1796 he was one of the commissioners who were despatched to visit the whiskey boys and endeavor to bring them back to reason, duty and safety. When it became necessary to order out a military force to quell the insurrection Gen. Irvine was put in command of the Pennsylvania troops. A short time after he rendered this last service in the tented field he removed to Philadelphia. He there received the appointment of Intendant of military stores which office was subsequently long and ably filled by his son Callender. He was also President of the Society of Cincinnati. Peacefully and calmly Gen. Irvine glided down the stream of time until the summer of 1804 when he closed his active and useful career and took his departure for "that country from whose bourne no traveller returns." He had lived highly respected--his death was deeply mourned. His public and private reputation were untarnished--he performed all the duties of life nobly and fulfilled the great design of his creation. THOMAS JEFFERSON. [Illustration: {Thomas Jefferson portrait and signature} ENGRAVED BY T.B. WELCH FROM A PORTRAIT BY G. STUART.] Genuine moral courage is a sterling virtue--the motive power of the true dignity of man. It invigorates the mind like a refreshing dew falling gently on the flowers of spring. It is a heavenly spark--animating the immortal soul with the fire of purity that illuminates the path of rectitude. It is an attribute that opposes all wrong and propels its possessor right onward to the performance of all right. Based on virtue and equity, it spurns vice in all its borrowed and delusive forms. It courts no servile favors--fears no earthly scrutiny. No flattery can seduce it--no eclat allure--no bribe purchase--no tyrant awe--no misfortune bend--no intrigue corrupt--no adversity crush--no tortures can subdue it. On its breastplate is inscribed in bold relievo--_Fiat justitia--ruat calum_. [Let justice be done though the heavens fall.] Without it, fame is ephemeral--renown transient. It is the saline basis of a good name that gives enduring richness to its memory. It is a pillar of light to revolving thought--the polar star that points to duty, secures merit and leads to victory. It is the soul of reason--the essence of wisdom--the crowning glory of mental power. It was this that nerved the leaders of the American Revolution to noble and god-like action.