Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell Part 6

It thus appears that, though he was not desirous of holding office, he was always willing and ready to perform at every sacrifice any duty which Virginia might require at his hands.

I wish it had been in my power to present even a brief glance at the labors of Mr. Tazewell, as one of the Commissioners under the Florida treaty of 1819, when, in conjunction with the late Judge Hugh L. White and Mr. King, some important questions were decided; but I had no materials within reach while engaged in preparing the discourse; and my recollections were too vague to be used on such an occasion.

No. V.

THE FUNERAL OF MR. TAZEWELL.

[From the _Norfolk Argus_, of May 8, 1860.]

The funeral obsequies of Mr. Tazewell, yesterday, were solemn and impressive. An appropriate address was delivered by Rev. Mr. Rodman, of Christ church, and a large concourse of persons followed the remains from the family mansion on Granby street to the wharf, whence they were taken to the Eastern Sh.o.r.e for interment.

Thus a very great man has pa.s.sed away from our midst--a man who was long and justly honored for his profound learning; surpa.s.sed by few, if any, in any country. His mind was an immense and well-stored intellectual repository, whence intelligence, varied, rich, and valuable, was drawn at pleasure or as occasion required. Powerful as an orator, brilliant as a writer, scarcely equalled in his knowledge of the great principles of law, his irresistible grasp of intellect astonished thousands in former days--bright and clear as "the cloudless azure of the upper sky."

The proceedings of the meeting of the members of the bar were very appropriate. All the addresses were eloquent and impressive. The speakers aptly mentioned his splendid and successful career as a lawyer, his wonderful legal acquirements, and irresistible eloquence. One of the gentlemen alluded to the fact that the merchant princes of London and the priests of Rome were among those who sought his opinion upon great and important questions, that had puzzled the astute statesmen of other countries.

The last survivor of a n.o.ble intellectual triumvirate, of which Norfolk could boast for a time, surpa.s.sing the models of antiquity in power and splendor of forensic triumph, has pa.s.sed away. That triumvirate is now demolished. Taylor, Wirt, and Tazewell have all pa.s.sed away; this last and most polished shaft now dimmed--Tazewell--just now gone to the grave, "venerable with the ivy of age, and eloquent of greater than cla.s.sic memories."

To state more particularly the details of the funeral, for future reference--the religious services were held at the family residence on Granby street, and a large number of our most respectable citizens were present on the occasion. Among them were three of our adopted fellow-citizens, who had been on terms of friendly intercourse with the deceased for nearly sixty years, and who walked from their respective abodes in the city to pay the last act of respect to his memory. The eldest of these venerable men, GEORGE MCINTOSH, Esq., was in his ninety-second year, and the others, WILLIAM H. THOMSON, Esq., and JOHN SOUTHGATE, Esq., were over eighty years. When the religious services were ended, a procession was formed, and the hea.r.s.e was escorted to the steamer Northampton, Captain McCarrick, and the coffin was placed on board. The steamer then left for the county of Northampton, across the bay of Chesapeake, having on board the Rev. Mr. Rodman and the Rev. Dr.

Okeson, of the Episcopal church, JOHN N. TAZEWELL, Esq., the only surviving son of the deceased, three of the daughters of Mr. Tazewell, a number of his grandchildren, the bar of Norfolk and its vicinity, and many of our most venerable fellow-citizens. From accident, the steamer did not reach the landing-place on the opposite sh.o.r.e till nearly dusk, and when the corpse was taken on sh.o.r.e the night had gathered in, and the burial service was read by candle-light. The last scene was one of deep and impressive solemnity.

The vault, which was made only large enough to receive the coffin, was composed of solid slabs of granite united by hydraulic cement, five feet below the surface, and was covered by another slab of granite. The vault was then covered with earth, and was ready to receive the monument, which is soon to be erected. The grave was in an enclosure bounded by iron rails, and containing the tombs of Mrs. Tazewell, the wife of the deceased, of HENRY TAZEWELL, Esq., his eldest son, and of LITTLETON WALLER TAZEWELL, Esq., his youngest son. The burial-ground is on the estate of King's creek, which was given by the deceased to his son, JOHN N. TAZEWELL, Esq., who still owns it, and which holds the remains of a number of the ancestors of Mrs. Tazewell--this last circ.u.mstance having led to its selection as a place of sepulchre for the family.

It was the public wish that the body of Mr. Tazewell should be deposited in one of the beautiful cemeteries of Norfolk, a city with which his name had been so long connected, and where the stranger would naturally seek his grave, and, I may add, where the lesson of such a pure and ill.u.s.trious life might be read in the course of the year by thousands of his countrymen; but the peculiar circ.u.mstances of the case rendered the scheme impracticable. I must, however, still indulge the hope that, hereafter, when the insecurity of graves on private estates, so signally represented by our Virginia experience, is fully considered, the descendants of this great man may in due time consent to the removal of his remains and those of the family to some more accessible and less exposed situation.

No. VI.

PORTRAITS OF GOVERNOR TAZEWELL.

1. A miniature of Mr. Tazewell before his marriage in 1802, by an unknown artist. It could not have been good at any period of his life.

2. The portrait by Thomson, taken in 1816, when he was about forty, which is a faithful likeness, and the most intellectual of all his portraits which I have seen.

3. A copy of the above, by Leonard, a pupil of Thomson.

4. A Crayon, by St. Mimin, taken in 1812, from which the engravings of Mr. Tazewell were taken.

5. A portrait by Theodore Kennedy, taken when Mr. Tazewell was about seventy. It has some good touches; but it lacks that high intellectual expression which was always present in the features of the original.

6. A Pastile from the above.

7. A portrait by Bonaud de St. Marcel, taken from a daguerreotype. It represents Mr. Tazewell in his eighty-fourth year, and is under size. It is a faithful copy from the daguerreotype, but it fails entirely to impart that majesty of feature which the face of the original retained to the last.

8. The portrait by Healy, kit-cat size, taken as Mr. Tazewell was in 1830, and designed to be inserted in the painting of the Senate of the United States during the debate on the resolutions of Mr. Foote, of Connecticut. The family of Mr. Tazewell regard this portrait as the finest ever taken of him. I have never seen it; nor has the family ever seen the painting into which it was to be introduced. Mr. Tazewell was fifty-seven or eight at the time.

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