would have oppressed me, lest importunate
and inextricable preoccupations of time and mind should disable me from
presenting as considerable, and as considerate, a survey of the eminent
character and celebrated career of Mr. Chase as should comport with
them, or satisfy the just exigencies of the occasion.

The commemoration which brings us together has about it nothing
funereal, in sentiment or observance, to darken our minds or sadden our
hearts to-day. The solemn rites of sepulture, the sobbings of sorrowing
affection, the homage of public grief, the concourse of the great
officers of state, the assemblage of venerable judges, the processions
of the bar, of the clergy, of liberal and learned men, the attendant
crowds of citizens of every social rank and station, both in the great
city where he died, and at the national capital, have already graced his
burial with all imaginable dignity and unmeasured reverence. To prolong
or renew this pious office is no part of our duty to-day. Nor is the
maturity or nurture which the college gives to those it calls its sons,
bestowed as it is upon their mind and character, affected by the death
of the body as is the heart of the natural mother; nor are you, his
brethren in this foster care of the spirit, bowed with the same sense of
bereavement as are natural kindred. The filial and fraternal relation
which he bore to you, the college and the alumni, is hardly broken by
his death, nor is he hidden from you by his burial. His completed
natural life is but the assurance and perpetuation of the power, the
fame, the example, which the discipline and culture here bestowed had
for their object, and in which they find their continuing and
ever-increasing glory. The energy here engendered has not ceased its
beneficent activity, the torch here lighted still diffuses its
illumination, and the fires here kindled still radiate their heat.

Not less certain is it that the spirit of this commemoration imposes no
task of vindication or defense, and tolerates no tone of adulation or
applause. The tenor of this life, the manifestation of this character,
was open and public, before the eyes of all men, upon an eminent stage
of action, displayed constantly on the high places of the world. No
faculty that Mr. Chase possessed, no preparation of mind or of spirit,
for great undertakings or for notable achievements, ever failed of
exercise or exhibition for want of opportunity, or, being exercised or
ex