Mr. President, this is no vain or empty
ceremonial in which iho senate is now
engaged. Honors to the illustrious dead
go beyond the discharge oj" ihe debt of
justice to them, and the rendition of con
solation to their friends: they become
lessons and examples for tho living. The
story of their humble beginning, and no
ble conclusion, is an example to be fol
lowed, and an incitement to be felt. And
whers shall we find an example more
worthy of imitation, or more full of en
couragement, than in tho life and charac
ter of Alexander Porter ! a lad of tender
age an orphan witli a widowed mother
and younger children the father martyr
ed in the cause of freodum an exile be
fore he was ten years old an ocean to
be crossed, and a strange land to be seen,
and a wilderness of a thousand miles to
be penetrated before he could find a rest
ing place for the sole of his foot : then
education to be acquired, support to be
earned, and even citizenship to be gained,
before he could make his own talents
available to his support: conquering all
these difficulties by his own exertions,
and the aid of an affectionate unrle (I
will name him, for tlie benefactor of youth '
deserves lo bo named, and named with
houor in the highet places)- w iih no
other aid but that of an uncle's kindness,
Mr. Alexander Porter, sen., merchant of
Nashville, also an emigrant from Ireland,
and full of the generous qualities which
belong to tlie children of thtt soil : this
lad, an . exile and orphan from the Uld
World, thus starling in tho iNw World,
with every thing to gain before il could
be enjoyed, soon attained every earthly
object, either brilliant or substantial, for
which he lived and struggled in this life.
