But while he was enjoying these quiet scenes of life, secluded from the political storms and hurricanes which howled around him, a mysterious Providence permitted the angel of death to visit him. He died on the 27th day of August.

It is remarkable how large a proportion of Americans highly distinguished for their talents and intellectual vigor, have died almost instantaneously, evidently by some sudden affection of the heart or the brain. De Witt Clinton, Thomas Addis Emmet, Mr. Webster, the brother of Daniel Webster, Henry R. Storrs, Silas Wright, and John Quincy Adams, besides many others, have in this way seen "the last of earth." Whether great mental power, does not occasion a disproportionate action between the nervous and vascular systems, is an inquiry which well merits the attention of learned physiologists.

The Hon. J. Leslie Russell, of Canton, the intimate and confidential friend of Gov. Wright, in a letter, dated on the day of his death, to Comptroller Flagg, thus describes the closing scene of the life of the great states

man:

"About eight o'clock this morning, Mr. Wright came to the post-office for his mail. He was in apparent good health

and sensitive, and shrinks from the shade and withers at the touch. Yet all spring up and bloom, and fade, and die, some in one stage of existence and some in another.

"So with human life. The shades and casts of character are as various as the tints and fragrance of the flowers, and all bloom, and fade, and die, some in infancy, some in the budding season of youth, some in mature life, and some by the frosts of age; but all, all die, and, as with flowers, the autumn and winter of years close the series with one generation make room for another, and another, and another.

anton, April, 1847."

"S. W

and spirits-took his letters-sat down-opened one from Horace Moody-read it partly through-laid it down, with other letters-turned very pale, and said to a friend present, 'I feel quite ill.' The friend says, 'Your countenance shows that you are sick; shall I call a doctor?' Mr. Wright declined having the physician sent for, saying that he had had two or three such turns before, and soon got relief. He complained of a painful sense of suffocation about the heart. His friends present felt alarmed, and sent the third time for a physician before he came. Full one hour he sat in the post-office, conversing with persons present, who felt intense anxiety about his health-he assuring them that he should soon be better.

"The physician came to the post-office, gave him a mild anodyne, and a friend asked him to permit him to accompany him to the house. Mr. Wright says, 'Yes, and I will thank you to go with me: Dr. Clark, you come too.'

"He walked calmly as usual to his house, the friend and doctor in company-laid down upon a bed with his clothes on, saying that he thought the medicine did not relieve him. The doctor gave orders for the application of drafts and other remedies, and left him. About ten o'clock, A. M., he died, as is supposed, from a rush of blood to the head.

"Only last evening, Mr. Wright was employed in writing an address to the State Agricultural Society, to be delivered at Saratoga next month.

"The proximate cause of the sudden attack which has carried off our friend, is, too severe labor on his farm during the recent hot weather. He was, to my knowledge, aware of a tendency to apoplexy. His diet had been very simple, and he supposed that labor in the open air was the best antidote against the plethoric tendency of his constitution.

"Yesterday I attended a funeral with him, and walked with him to the grave. He spoke of apoplexy in connection with the death of a friend from that disease, in a manner which induced me then to believe that he had a premonition of this dire calamity."

To this unadorned narrative of the "sudden wrench

from life's meridian joys" of one of the greatest men of the age, we shall only add a single sentence, which we quote from the eloquent "Discourse" of the Rev. Dr. Sprague, which he delivered at the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany, on the death of Mr. Wright:

"At a moment," says the reverend orator, I when he has just completed his preparation for an important public service, and is making his arrangements to come among us again as a friendly visiter; oh, at this most unexpected moment 'his breath goeth forth!' It seemed to those who looked on as if it must be some fearful illusion that had overtaken them; or else as if the breath had gone only to come again: but it was no illusion;—it was no temporary suspension of the vital energy. Death, as if to show how he could sport with the strongest, had held that prince* in his grasp but a few moments before he bid the agonized lookers on take notice how thoroughly he had done his work. And before the vital warmth has fled, the lightning is put in requisition to bear the heavy tidings over the land; and the sun, in whose morning beams our friend rejoiced, has not sunk beneath the horizon, before the state, I had almost said the nation, is putting on her habiliments of mourning, because she shall see his face no more."

* Dr. Sprague had selected for his text that beautiful passage from the book of Psalms, "Put not your trust in princes," &c.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Proceedings on the Death of Mr. Wright, at Albany-New York-Tammany Society-State Legislature-Wisconsin-Presentation of Plate by the New York Merchants to Mrs. Wright-Funeral Sermon by Mr. Johnson-Remarks on the Character of Silas Wright.

NEVER did the death of a private citizen of the state of New York produce a sensation, throughout all ranks and every part of the community, so intense as the sudden death of Mr. Wright.

The common councils of the cities of New York and Albany, as soon as the melancholy news reached those cities, immediately assembled to express their respect for his character and merits, and their regret for the loss which the public had sustained by his death. The flags of the shipping in the port of New York were displayed at half-mast. The city of Albany set apart a day on which funeral honors should be paid to the deceased; and the adjutant-general of the state, in pursuance of the directions of the governor, ordered that the national colors should on that day be displayed on the capitol and state arsenal, and that minute guns should be fired from 12 to 2 o'clock. The Tammany Society of New York passed resolutions expressive of "its high respect for the distinguished dead," and that its members should wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.

On the 9th of September Gov. Young addressed to the legislature of this state, who, in pursuance of an adjournment previously made, had assembled on the pre

ceding day, the following special message, equally creditable to himself and honorable to the memory of his great competitor at the last election:

"TO THE LEGISLATURE

"EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
Albany, Sept. 9, 1847.

SILAS WRIGHT, the late chief magistrate of this state, died at his residence in Canton, in the county of St. Lawrence, on the 27th day of August last.

Although scarcely arrived at the meridian of life, he had not only held the office of governor of this state, but had discharged, with singular ability, the various duties pertaining to the offices of state senator, comptroller, and senator in the congress of the United States.

"As a statesman he occupied a high place among the distinguished public men of the age.

"In private life he enjoyed, in an eminent degree, the respect and esteem of those to whom he was personally known.

"Although his name will go down to posterity without the aid of official records, his eminent public services and great private worth render it proper that I should thus announce to you his death, to the end that such measures may be adopted as are demanded by the deep feeling that pervades the community.

"JOHN YOUNG."

When this message was communicated to the legislature, a joint committee of the two houses was appointed, who reported resolutions highly laudatory of the talents, services, and patriotism of the late governor, and directing that the members should wear badges of mourning and grief. Mr. Perkins, from St. Lawrence, in the assembly, and Mr. J. A. Spencer, in the senate, delivered impressive and eloquent eulogies on the deceased states.