om its base, that its foundation be upturned and this
deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day
the Union of the United States of America stands firm, that
their Constitution still exists unimpaired, with all its
original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and
stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people,
and attracting more and more the attention of the world. And all
here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private
life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the
preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in
sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and
arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now
to be erected over it, may endure forever.'

"From the sixth day of December, 1819, until January 4, 1859, a
period of thirty-nine years, the sessions of the Senate were held
in the present Supreme Court room. This was, indeed, the arena of
high debate. When, in any age, or in any country, has there
been gathered, within so small compass, so much of human greatness?
Even to suggest the great questions here discussed and determined,
would be to write a history of that eventful period. It was,
indeed, the coming together of the master spirits of the second
generation of American statesmen. Here were Macon and Crawford,
Benton, Randolph, Cass, Bell, Houston, Preston, Buchanan, Seward, Chase,
Crittenden, Sumner, Choate, Everett, Breese, Trumbull, Fessenden, Douglas,
Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and others scarcely less illustrious.
Within the walls of that little chamber was heard the wondrous
debate between Hayne and Webster. There began the fierce conflict
of antagonistic ideas touching the respective powers of the State and
of the Nation--a conflict which, transferred to a different theatre,
found final solution only in the bloody arbitrament of arms.

"For more than a third of a century the sessions of the Senate have
been held in the magnificent chamber of the north wing of the
Capitol. Of the procession of sixty-two Senators that, preceded
by the Vice-President, Mr. Breckenridge, entered the Chamber for
the first time, on the fourth day of January, 1859, but four survive;
not one remains in public life. It is, indeed, now a procession of
shadows.

"When the foundation-stone of this Capitol was laid, our Republic was
in its infancy, and self-government yet an untried expe