xt776h4cp046 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt776h4cp046/data/mets.xml Kentucky. Constitutional Convention (1890-1891) 1891  books b92-156-29785550 English E. Polk Johnson, public printer and binder, : Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. McHenry, Henry Davis, 1826-1890. Memorial addresses on the life and character of Henry Davis McHenry (delegate from Ohio County)  : delivered in the Constitutional Convention of Kentucky, January 7th, 1891. text Memorial addresses on the life and character of Henry Davis McHenry (delegate from Ohio County)  : delivered in the Constitutional Convention of Kentucky, January 7th, 1891. 1891 2002 true xt776h4cp046 section xt776h4cp046 
-



Z",,-



e

 





I



            IN REMEMBRANCE
                     OF
      HENRY DAVIS McHENRY.
             BORN FEBRUARY 27,
                     1826.
             DIED DECEMBER 17,
                    i 890.
      A LEARNED AND FAITHFUL LAWYER,
A peaceful and public-spirited citizen, an incorruptible
     patriot, sagacious statesman, and-over all
           God's noblest handiwork-
              AN HONEST MAN.
 He was an ornament to the Commonwealth and an
               honor to his race.
        ''-Cui Pudor, et Justitice So)ror
      Inco'rupta Fides, nudaque Veritas.
        Quando ultum invenient parem  ' "



I
















I

 This page in the original text is blank.

 







MEMORIAL



ADDRESSES



ON THE



LIFE AND CHARACTER



         OF



HENRY DAVIS



McH ENRY,



        (DELEGATE FROM OHIO COUNTY).



             DELIVERED IN THE




  CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION



             OF KENTUCKY,



          JAN UARkY 7th, 1891.







            FRANKFORT, KY.:
CAPITAL OFFICE, E. POLK JOHNSON, PUBLIC PRINTER ANI) BINDER.
                1891.

 

























RESOLUTION     TO PRINT ELULOGIES UPON THE LATE HENRY D.
                            NI CHENRY.

  Resolredi That five hundred copies of the proceedings of this Con-
vention, on the 17th of December, 1890, and of January 7th, 1891,
touching the death of the late Hon. HENRY   D. MCHENRY, be
printed in pamphlet form, and appropriately bound in cloth, and
containing a vignette, to be furnished by his family; one hundred
copies for the use of his family, and four hundred for distribution by
the Delegates of this Convention.
  Adopted January 8, 1891.

 


















AN NOU NCEM ENT



                             1F ITHIP


DEATH OF HENRY DAVIS MCHENRY.


                 DELEGATE FROM OHIO ('OUNTY.



                 IN CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

                          December 17, i8go.

  Mr. I. A. Spaldizig, 41f Union county. annmu(ced the death of Hon.
H. D. MCHE!SRY, Delegate from Ohio county. and, on his motion, it
was ordered that the President appoint a Committee of five to draft
suitable resolutions on the death of Mr. MCHENRY. and a Committee
of eight to attend his funeral.
  The President appointed on the Committee oIn Resolutions, Messrs.
Spalding, Knott, Buckner, Clardy and Jacobs.
  On the Committee to attend the funeral, Messrs. Young, Straus
Pettit, Jonson, Auxier, James, Twvrnan and Coke. Said Committee
-to be accompanied by the Sergeant-at-Arms.
  The Convention then took a recess until 12 o'clock, -o.
  At 12 o'clock, M., the Convention reassembled; when Mr. Spald-
ing, from the Committee on Resolutions, reported the following:
  WHEREAS, This Convention has just heard, with profcundest sorrow,
of the sudden and unexpected death of Hon. HENRY D. MCHFNRY,
late Delegate to this body from the county of Ohio, which oecurred
at his residence at half-past four o'clock this morning; therefore,
  Resolved, That in his death his bereaved familv has lost an aflec-
-tionate husband, father and friend; his community, its brightest orna-
ment; the Commonwealth, one of its most distinguished citizens, and
this Convention, one of its most useful and honored members; that
-we tender to his sorrowing family and friends assurances of our heart-

 








6' LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY D MeHENRY.



felt sympathy in their grief, and, as a token of our respect for his
memory, we will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days,
and hereby set apart the seventh day of January for memorial ser-
vices in his honor.
  Resolved, That an engrossed copy of these resolutions be forwarded
to his family, and, as a further token of our respect, that this Con-
vention do now adjourn.
                           1. A. SPALDINO, Chairnanl  
                           S. B. BUCCKNER,             
                           JT. D. CLARDY.              F Cwomittee.
                           R. P. JACOBS,               
                           J. PROCTOR KNOTT.          J

  Mr. MACKOY. I move that the Committee's report be adopted.
  Mr. PETTIT. I cannot let the occasion pass without adding a few-
words to the record in memory of a man for whom I entertained so-
much respect and admiration as I did for the late Delegate from the
county of Ohio. I knew him well, his fidelity to public duty, his.
unblemished personal character, and his lovely domestic relations. To
say that he had no faults would be claiming for him exemption from
the frailties of humanity; but his faults were not of the meaner, but
of the nobler kind-
              "And e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side."
  It is no part of my purpose, Mr. President, to attempt any delinea-
tion of the character of Mr. McHI:NRY, or to speak of the great
service he has rendered this State and this nation. The Delegates on
this floor have observed the marked characteristics of the man. His
public career may safely be left for the pen of the historian to com-
plete the record, and for the Delegates of this Convention to pay
their tribute of respect. My purpose is a more simple and grateful
one. I bring from the garden of the heart a few fresh, modest
flowers, dripping with the dew of affection, to cast upon the grave
of the friend I loved. Mr. President. I second the motion made by
the gentleman from Covington, that this report be received and
adopted.
  A vote being taken, the report was adopted.
  And the Convention thereupon adjourned.


 














                     A D D R E S S E S


                          I)ELIVERED IN



       THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION


                   WEIDNESI)AY, JANUARY 7, 159.





  The PRESIDENT. This day has been set apart as a memorial day in
honor of the late HENRY D. MCHENRY.


           Address of Mr. KNOTT, of Marion.

  Mr. PRKSIDENT: A few fleeting days ago there went in and out
among us one whom even the passing stranger would have marked
for the majesty of his manhood. His commanding presence, his grave
but handsome face, and the quiet dignity of his demeanor, distimi-
guished him among the most conspicuous figures in our midst.
Although past the noontide of life, no one, at the opening of this
Convention, seemed more likely to witness the conclusion of its pro-
ceedings. His finely chiseled features showed but few (of the footprints
of advancing years. His firmly knit frame appeared to have lost but
little of its earlier vigor. His carriage was erect, his eve was clear, and
his stalwart intellect seemed still in the plenitude of its power.
  While in the active discharge of his duties here the hand of disease
was laid upon his manly form, although as we, who loved hiln. thought.
but gently. He left us with the cheering prospect of rapidly rcturn-
ing health, and the pleasing hope of scion meeting us again in the
full flush of his wonted energy and strength. Day by day brought
us tidings of his continued convalescence under the sweet influences
clustering around his happy fireside; and then, there came, like the

 







8  LIE I N (sll JEI (a HENRY D. MHENRY1



lightning's bolt from a cloudless sky, the brief, appalling message-
HENRY ICHExRY is dead.
  It smote upon our hearts like ice. Our faculties were numbed by
sudden grief. We stood mute, and with bowed heads in the presence
of a great and unexpected sorrow. We could not wreak our feelings
upon expression then; so we said we would consecrate this day to the
commemoration of his virtues.
  The work in which we were engaged we knew would stand for
generations yet to come-a monument to our honor or our shame.
That we could not hide it if we would; that it would be seen of
men long after we, too, had gone to join our dead friend in "that
undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns;" and
we promised that, in the fabric we were building here, we would,
to-day, erect for him ia cenotaph more durable than sculptured mar-
ble or memorial bronze.
  Loving hands have gently laid him away in his last, long resting
place; loving eyes have looked for the last time through the mist of
blinding tears upon his still, cold face; the last wailing note of the
funeral dirge has died away; the last stifling sob is hushed, and we
sire here to redeem that tender pledge of sorrowing friendship.
  But to him, alas! how vain were all the beauteous chaplets with
which affection's hand would deck his honored tomb! How futile and
unheeded the tenderest tribute or the loftiest panegyric will fall upon
his dull. cold ear! The flowers of coming spring will shed their fra-
grance o'er the turf that hides his pulseless form; the happy-hearted
bird will trill its joyous matin from the neighboring bough; the hum
of busy life will fill the air that sighs above his lowly bed; year will
follow year, as they sweep past his narrow house in their swift and
tireless procession to eternity; generations will come and go; dynasties
will rise and fall; empires will flourish and decay; the rush and roar
of countless ages will break above him like the surging billows of a
restless sea; but none of these will disturb the sleep that wraps his
moldering dust.
  Yet, it is due to him and to ourselves that we record the story of
his life; that the lessons he has taught may live in our own lives and
the lives of those who are to follow us. I approach the discharge
of that pious duty, however, with trembling anxiety, lest my affection
for my friend may tempt me beyond the simple, unaffected terms in
which I know he would have me speak of him if he were here to
dictate the present utterance of my tongue; for, - I did love the man
and do honor his memory, this side of idolatry as much as any."

 







AIDDRkE    OF .111. KNXOTT, OF M' ARION.



9



  HFatY DAVIS MCHENRY was born at Hartford, Ky., February 27,
1x26, and, in those sterling qualities for which he was distinguished
ini all the relations of life may be found one of the most striking
illustrations of the mysterious law of heredity.
  His grandfather, Rev. Barnabas MdcHenry, is still remembered in
Washington and its surrounding counties, by the few survivors of
those who know   him  personally. as a man of marked ability, an
accomplished scholar, a thorough gentleman, a sincere Christian, and
one of the most distinguished ministers of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Kentucky during his day.
  His grandmother, Sarah Hardin McHenry, was not only a woman
of extraordinary intellectual endowments, but one of the highest type
of moral excellence. She was a daughter of the celebrated Col. John
Hardin, a soldier under Dunmore; the comrade-in-arms of Isaac Shelby;
at trusted officer and favorite friend of Gen. Morgan in the war of the
Revolution; afterwards one of the most daring and distinguished pio-
neers of our State, and finally a martyr to the service of his country;
conspicuous throughout his remarkable career for that lofty intrepidity
of soul and sublime devotion to duty, so signally illustrated by his
gifted but ill-fated grandson, Col. John .J. Hardin. who fell at the
head of his regiment on the memorable Held of Buena Vista.
  She was a sister of Gen. Martin D. Hardin, who was among the
most intellectual men of his generation; the ablest and most eminent
of all the extraordinary family which bears his name or shares his
blood-lawyer, soldier, statesman-shedding the brightest luster alike
upon the civil and military annals of the Commonwealth; while
among her first cousins were the distinguished brothels, Robert and
Charles A. Wickliffe, two of the most illustrious citizens Kentucky
ever produced, and the famous lawyer and advocate, Ben Hardin,
whose name for three generations has been a household word through-
out the State.
  His father, Jonn Hardin McHenry, having adopted the profession
adorned by so many of his kinsmen, settled, soon after his admission
to the bar, at Hartford, in Ohio county, where he not only achieved
a comfortable fortune by his talents and industry, but acquired the
reputation of being one of the ablest lawyers in the Commonwealth;
and, as an indication of the popular esteem in which he was held,
it may be added that he was not only elected to represent his county
in the Lower House of the State Legislature, hut also to a seat in the
Federal Congress, and afterwards as Delegate to the Constitutional
Convention of 1849; in all of which the integrity and ability with
wbic h be discharged the important duties devolved upon him, was

 







10   LIFE .1JNP) ('I. I ('TEl (OF HEX!R   I. MzfEXNRJ-'



an ample vindication of the confidence reposed in him by his con-
stituents, while his private life was a constant illustration of the loftiest
virtues which signalize an honorable and useful manhood.
  His only paternal uncle, Hon. Martin D. McHenry, having attained
an enviable distinction as a lawyer, legislator and jurist in his native
State, removed to Des Moines, Ia., where he still lives in the enjoy-
ment of a serene old age, full of honors as of years; a credit to his
kindred, and a credit to Kentucky.
  Sprung from such a race, it is not strange that, as he grew towards
man's estate, young MCHENRY seemed to incline instinctively to the
favorite profession of his family.
  Having gone through a preparatory course of legal reading in the
office of his honored father, he was graduated from the Law Depart-
ment of Transylvania University in 1845, and was immediately admitted
to the bar of his native county, although not yet twenty years of
age. On his return from the University, where he had just taken
his degree, he stopped at Shelbyville to visit his elder brother, Martin
D. H. MeHenry, a brilliant and accomplished young lawyer, who had
just entered upon a promising professional career at that place, which
was, unfortunately, cut short by his untimely death. There, in the
office of his brother, I met HENRY D. MCHENRY for the first time.
I was then in my fifteenth year. but to this hour I can recall as
vividly as if it had been but yesterday, the impression made upon my
boyish admiration by his splendidly proportioned figure, his singularly
handsome features the manly dignity of his bearing, and the easy
urbanity of his manners. I then thought, and I still think, that he
was, at that time, the most magnificent specimen of young man-
hood I had ever seen.
  His professional career was precisely such as may always be ex-
pected of one possessing his rare combination of mental and moral
endowments. He had not only inherited that singular aptitude for
the science of jurisprtidence which band enabled such an unusual num-
ber of his kindred to achieve the highest distinction at the bar, and
on the bench, but he entered the forensic arena full panoplied, with-
out a break in his harness. To an understanding of uncolmlmon acute-
ness and vigor he added a thorough and conscientious preparatory
training. while he exemplified in his practice all the higher elements
of the truly great lawyer. He was constantly inspired by an innate.
inflexible love of justice and a delicate sense of personal honor, which
controlled him in all his professional relations.
  His fidelity to the interests of his clients was proverbial; yet he
never forgot that he owed a higher allegiance to the majesty of the

 







ADDRESS OF .MR. KNOTT, OF MARION.



law. His diligence and energy in the preparation of his cases, as
well as the earnestness, tenacity and courage with which he defended
the right, as he understood it, challenged the highest admiration of
his associates. Yet he scorned the glittering chaplet of forensic tri-
umph. where it had to be won by debasing himself, debauching
public morality or degrading the dignity of his profession.
  While he was scrupulously careful to master every principle of law,
and to familiarize himself with every question of fact involved in a
case committed to his care, he indulged in no vain display of irrel-
evant learning in his legal discussions, either for the purpose of mag-
nifying himself, or to mislead the Court; but invariably sought to.
present his argument in the strong, clear light of common reason
and sound legal principle.
  His advocacy frequently towered to the loftiest domain of eloquence;
but it was always the simple eloquence of truth-'the still, small voice
of justice," pleading, through him, for the recognition and protection
of the right. He disdained every thing like mere factitious ornament
in his speech, and seldom resorted to the subtler processes of analyti-
cal reasoning; but his honest, vigorous intellect seized instinctively
upon the strong points in his case, and pressed them with a rugged
logic, and an earnest simplicity that rarely failed to enforce convic-
tion, while belaboring the sophistry of his adversary with the club of
  Hercules or trampling it scornfully in the dust.
  Honest himself, his natural impulse was to regard all men as such.
He, therefore, sought no advantage in the organization of his juries,
and resorted to no artifice to cloud their reason or mislead their
judgment. Faithful to his cause, just to the Court, sincere with the
jury, true to himself, and loyal to his profession, his intercourse with
his associates at the bar was courteous, candid, considerate and kind.
He was ever ready to extend them a favor, and never sought to over-
reach them or their clients. How nobly he sustained, throughout a
long career, the purity of his own reputation and the brilliant prestige
of his illustrious family!
  But the figure of our dead friend was no less conspicuous and honor-
able in his political than in his professional life. In 1851, when barely
eligible to a seat in that body, he was chosen to represent his native-
county in the lower branch of the State Legislature. Ten years later,
he was elected to the State Senate, and, in 1865, was returned a second
time to the House of Representatives.    In 1870 he was chosen to
represent his district in the Forty-second Congress, and, in 1872,
represented his party as a delegate from the State at large in the
Baltimore Convention, by which he was selected a member of the



11

 







J2 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY D. McHENRY.



  Democratic National Committee-a position of rare distinction, as well
  .as grave responsibility, demanding the highest order of executive
  ability, which, in virtue of five consecutive elections, he continued to
  fill to the day of his death.
    To enumerate here his valuable and distinguished services in these
 various capacities, would be as tedious as superfluous. His public
 record is a part of the legislative and political history of his country,
 'and will be seen and discussed with grateful approbation perhaps
 long after I am dead and gone. It is enough to say that in each of
 them he towered among his associates like a son of Anak. In each
 -of them, his own native ability forced him immediately to the front.
 In each the influence of his clear, strong intellect, and incorruptible
 integrity, was at once distinctly felt and promptly recognized.
   But it was not of the lawyer, the legislator, the politician, or the
 statesman that I wished to speak; but of the man, whom I have
 iknown and loved as a brother for more than a quarter of a century.
 During that long and eventful period, my intercourse with him was
 of the most intimate and affectionate character, and, I think, I bad
 the amplest opportunity to become familiar with every phase of his
 ,moble, manly nature. I would not speak of him, however. in terms of
 fulsome eulogy, which he would despise if he could hear them, but in
 the simple, unstudied language of sincerity and candor.
   That be had his faults, as all men have, it would be worse than idle
 to deny; yet, they;often seemed to me but unintentional foils, height-
 'ening the charm of those excellent qualities of head and heart which
 made him one of the most admirable men 1 ever met. His intel-
 lect was massive, capacious, clear, vigorous and self poised; never
 displayed in any of those brilliant, but erratic, corruscations of genius,
 which sometimes excite the admiration of mankind by their momen-
 tary splendor, but always operating as a constant and potent force
 in the practical concerns of life, whether public or private.
 Only those who knew him intimately can have any conception of
 ,the wonderful extent and accuracy of his information in almost every
 department of useful knowledge, or of the power with which he could
 apply the vast variety of facts at his command whenever occasion
 might require; for he was never disposed to make an idle exhibition
 of his acquirements, either to excite the envy, or to court the applause
 of his fellow-men.
 In the ordinary affairs of life, at the bar, in the legislative chamber'
 or at the council board of the committee, the secret of his power lay
 in his strong, common sense. His judgment was calm, deliberate and
-clear, seldom  at fault. though sometimes apparently intuitive.  His

 






ADDRESS OF MR. KNOTT, OF MARION.



convictions were generally the result of mature and intelligent con-
sideration, and, when reached, he did not hesitate to express them
with an earnest boldness, which, by those who did not know him, was
frequently mistaken for an aggressive and obstinate dogmatism. Yet,
no man's opinions were more amenable to correct reason, and when
convinced that he was mistaken, no man ever acknowledged his error-
with a more manly courage or more unaffected candor.
  His most striking trait, the one which gave a distinct tone and.
coloring to all the transactions of his life, was his extraordinary
pride of personal character. The slightest stain upon his escutcheon
would have tortured him like the shirt of Nessus; not because it
might injure him in the estimation of others, but degrade him in his.
Own. He was, in fact, the very incarnation of sensitive honor. Des-
pising every thing like insincerity, deceit, falsehood, treachery or
ingratitude to others, he would have loathed himself had he thought
himself capable of any such detestable vice. He therefore shunned.
every thing that could give rise to a just suspicion of his integrity
or fidelity, as he would the contagion of the leper. He was careful.
that in the minds of his friends no shade of any such suspicion
should ever exist, and, to avoid the least semblance of it, he often
did himself injustice. I remember well an instance, in which he
turned away-from an honorable and lucrative position of public trust,-
to which he was fairly entitled by long and valuable service to his.
party, and which he might have had for the asking, lest his accept-
ance of it might be construed by some of his friends as a selfish
interference with their own political schemes.
  The very soul of truth and personal integrity himself, falsehood,
dishonesty and injustice in others could not fail to excite his unspeak-
able detestation and scorn. Yet in all my intercourse with him, I do.
not remember that I ever heard him use a vindictive expression
towards any one who had done him a personal wrong. That he pos-
sessed strong feelings I know, and that he should despise the meanness-
of those who may have injured him without cause, would have been
but natural; but the ignoble sentiment of impotent malice, the in-
satiate longing for personal revenge, was something that could find
no lodgment in his lofty soul.
  His attachment for those whom he loved was almost phenome--
nally strong and unselfish. When he was a friend, he was the best
friend a man ever had; where he reposed his confidence, there was
no reserve; it was absolute and unquestioning. Incapable of dissim--
ulation himself, he suspected no guile in those whom he admitted to.
the inner-chamber of his affection. His generosity to them knew no.



13.

 







14   LIFE AND CHARA.CTER OF HENRY D. MrfrEYENRY

limit but their own demands, and any estrangement between those he
loved caused him the keenest regret. He would hear nothing from
-either to the disparagement of the other, and spared no pains to effect
.a reconciliation, as long as reconciliation was possible.
   With his closest friends, however, as with the mere acquaintance,
 for whom he had no special regard, he expressed himself with a plain,
 blunt candor, reprehending or approving, as his sense of truth and
 justice might suggest, and frequently lapsed into a silent abstraction.
 which a stranger might have mistaken for a cold hauteur-of all
 things the most foreign to his genial, kindly, generous disposition.
 Habitually grave in his demeanor, and often apparently distant and
 indifferent in his bearing; his neighbors, rich and poor, who knew
 him in life, and gathered weeping around his open grave, would tell
 you, nevertheless, that he was the kindest and gentlest and most
 generous of men-that he possessed the keenest relish for harmless
 humor, and no one ever abandoned himself more heartily to its en-
 joyment, especially when he was himself the subject of some good-
 natured pleasantry.
   It is impossible, however, that any one should know HENRY Me-
 HENRY as he really was who never met him under his own hospita-
 ble roof-tree, in the bosom of his own delightful family. There all
 the splendid traits of his noble character shone out in their full
 .effulgence, amid the gentle amenities of husband, father, friend, in
 the joyous companionship of his devoted wife, and their intelligent
 and affectionate children. A lovelier scene of domestic happiness was
 never witnessed since the banishment of the primeval pair from the
 blissful bowers of Paradise.
 On the 26th of January, 1856, he led to the marriage altar Miss
 Jennie Taylor daughter of Rev. James Taylor, of Hardinsburg, Ky.,
 where they mutually plighted to each other the sweetest, holiest vow
 known to our religion. Lovely beyond her sex, gifted with the rarest
 charms of intellect, the bright embodiment of all the matchless graces
 of gentle womanhood, she became to him, from that blest hour, a
 crown of glory and a perennial joy, until her loving hand tenderly
 closed his weary eyes in death.
 His helpmeet in health, his solace in sickness, the wife of his
 bosom, the mother of his children, her pure affection sweetly stole
 through all the recesses of his soul "like a summer zephyr sighing
 -softly over sleeping valleys." Day by day she sent him forth to the
 manifold duties of life with a loving God-speed that nerved his
-energies for all honorable endeavor, and at eventide she greeted his
home-coming with the sweet smile of welcome irradiating her lovely


 






ADDRFES OF SIR. RODES, OF WARRENV.



face like the celestial nimbus of some beatific vision. I have been
with him for weeks amid the busy hum of crowded cities. I have
been his sole companion in the silent shades of the lonely forest; and
always, everywhere, in the broad light of the noontide sun, and in
the deep stillness of the night, her image seemed ever present in his
memory; and it was under the benign influence of her presence, by
the hallowed hearthstone where she was the ministering divinity, dis-
pensing a hospitality as refined as it was generous, and there alone,
that you might have seen her noble-hearted husband in the true
grandeur of his soul. 1 can say no more. I move that a page of
the Record shall be dedicated to his memory, with the following in-
scription:
  In remembrance of HENRY DAVIS MCHENRY. Born February 27,
1826; died December 17, 1890. A     learned and faithful lawyer, a
peaceful and public-spirited citizen, an incorruptible patriot, a saga-
cious statesman, and-over all, God's noblest handiwork-an honest
man, he was an ornament to the Commonwealth and an honor to his
race.
                   -Cei Pudor, et Justitiem ,Soror
                Inlcorr upta Fides, nudaque Veritas.
                   Qt ,eitdO u1lui innvenieni paremC5"





          Address of Mr. RODES, of Warren.

    r. PRESIDENT: I rise to second the motion made by the Delegate
from Marion county. As there was a certain attachment existing
between HENRYR-  D. MAIHFNRY and myself, I deem    it not out of
place to pay the tribute of my regard to him at this time, and before
this body. We were nearly of the same age. He commenced the
practice of law a short time before I did, perhaps. I have known
him between thirty-five and forty years. I met him frequently at the
Butler Circuit Court, where I established some kind of intimacy with
him, which has grown, ripened and matured until the present time.
I do not propose at this time to deal in the language of panegyric
"r of eulogy. We are attempting now to make this a memorial
service in his honor. It is difficult to say how men grow. It seems
almost impossible to mark that line which divides youth from mature
tage, or mature age from declining age. There is no bisecting line
which williindicate the different stages of progress usually made by a
ltnianlbeing. And there is no equator running across that career to



1S

 







16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HENRY D. McHENRY.



enable us to tell exactly where they begin or end. There are tropical
lines of latitude that lie in the course of every man's career, in which
you can clearly indicate that he has shown forth with more strength,
beauty and light, perhaps, than you can at other periods of his career.
   HENRY D. MCHENRY was not what we would call a man of genius.
 He was a man of talent. There is a distinction between talent and
 genius. Talent is a necessary means for the accomplishment of ends.
 It has reference more particularly to the exercise of one's powers,
 and it manifests itself more in acts than it does in any thing else.
 Genius is more conversant with the ends. Genius is intuitive. Talent
 generally looks more to the object that a man has to accomplish.
 Genius looks more like a meteor flashing across the sky.
 H-ENRY D. McHENRY was one of those men who brought to bear in
 his career the exercise of what I call talent. He lived in this world
 in a very remarkable time. That particular portion of man's history
 that marks his career, I think, I or some other one of the Delegates-
 here has referred to as the best portion of the life of mankind. Mr.
 Gladstone, I think, made the remark that the fifty or sixty years of
 his life he would prefer to live in over any other portion of the
 world's history. Beginning with the year 1825, and ending with the
 year 1890, there have been seen exhibitions of human forces, will-
 power and strength upon this earth that never have been witnessed
 before. You must recollect that he took a part, and a very consid-
 erable part, too, in the history of our race on this continent. He was
 not an obscure man. He was in the councils of great men, and took
 part in the councils of the Nation. From 1825 to 1890, after he had
 attained maturity, he was frequently consulted by the most learned
 and the strongest men of our land. I have reason to know that in
 1860, during the late troubles, he was brought into consultation, and
 gave his advice respecting matters that pertained to the well-being of
 the country. Since that time he has been connected with the welfare-
 and direction of affairs pertaining to one of the great political
 parties of this land. He was by no means indifferent to these things,
 but in all of them he bore his part manfully, generously, bravely,
 well. In 1825, when his career in this life began, or shortly there-
 after, observe for a moment, if you please, what the condition of the
 world then was. Those who are conversant with history know that
 the old line of stage coaches, which were first known in England
 about 1660, was still the great means of transportation of passengers
 over this country. Macadam had only begun his system of roads in
 1815 in England, and there were then very few of them in this-
country. There was not a railroad in America in 1825, I believe, and


 






ADDRESS OF MlR. YOUNG, OF LOUISVIILE.  17