Ta meeting of the Trustees and Regents of the CHICAGO UNIVERSITY, held

June 5, 1861, with other proceedings, touching the death of the Hon. S. A. DOUGLAS, it was ordered that at the annual commencement exercises on the 3d of July, there be an oration upon the illustrious Statesman, and President of the Board of Trustees. It was further ordered that the HON. SAMUEL H. TRZAT, Judge of the United States District Court for the southern district of Illinois, be appointed orator for the occasion. Subsequently, on the 30th June, finding himself so restrained by official duties, that it was impossible to attend, Judge Treat informed the committee of his inability to be present.

In the meantime, committees of the Common Council, and of the Douglas Club having been similarly disappointed in the persons chosen by them to deliver a like oration, proposed to Mr. Sheahan to deliver the address, and for that purpose united with the committee on the part of the University, and agreed to have but one address, to be delivered at the commencement exercises. The following explains the cause of publication of the address:

JAS. W. SHEAHAN, ESQ.,

CHICAGO, JULY 5, 1861.

Dear Sir The undersigned, comprising a joint committee of the Common Council of this city, and the University of Chicago, appointed to supervise the publication of your very able and eloquent Eulogy on the late STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, delivered at Bryan Hall, on the 3d July, inst., at the annual commencement exercises of the College, by invitation of the Trustees, in which the Common Council and Douglas Club participated; do now, in discharge of their duty, herewith enclose you a copy of the Resolutions unanimously agreed upon at the close of your address, and request you will furnish them a copy for publication.

In performance of this duty, the committee would gladly, if this were deemed a proper occasion, reiterate the sentiment which the passage of the resolution itself more fitly implies and emphasizes. The degree of universal satisfaction and pleasure which was experienced at the merits of your performance was heartily manifested at the time of its delivery, by the applause, long continued, of the audience who were present and heard it. The committee feel, that in its speedy publication, they can in no way more acceptably gratify the wishes of the people of this City and State, whom circumstance prevented from being present, than in hastening its distribution by means of the press, for their perusal.

With kind regards, we remain,

Very truly, yours,

EULOGY.

MR. PRESIDENT, Ladies and Gentlemen :

The man who could command fitting terms and proper words in which to speak of Douglas, would indeed be an Orator. The man, who in reading the public life of Douglas, is capable of comprehending in all their fullness, the purposes, the aims and the plans of his wide-spread policy, would indeed be a Statesman. And to speak of Douglas and of Douglas' great deeds, as they deserve, will demand another Douglas-for he was both Orator and Statesman-unrivaled, because in oratory and statesmanship he was his own model and his own example.

I am neither Orator nor Statesman; and, therefore, have no expectation of doing justice to the subject. I am here, fellow-citizens as a substitute, called upon at the last moment, to supply, very indifferently, the place of others, who, being capable, unfortunately having been prevented from being present.

When the traveler hears, in his old age and retirement, the name of some distant city, village or land which had been familiar to him in his journeys, how his eyes will brighten, and the blood course more warmly through his heart, as that name recalls scenes of

love, of peril, of pleasure, or of storm. And to you, gentlemen, who were his political friends, and you who served with him in the establishment and conduct of this University, and to us all of Chicago, and of Illinois, will not, until the latest days of our lives, the name of Stephen A. Douglas carry back memories to days when he stood a tower of strength in the national edifice, and we found happiness and honor in resting at his feet?

And now, what shall I say of him? What shall I say of him whose name and achievements are familiar to us all? Shall I say to you that he was intellectually great? That fact is recorded in enduring characters upon the history of his country-characters carved by himself mid the storms of controversy, the heat of popular anger, the tumult of popular passion, as well as in the hours of national peace. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS was a man not only intellectually great, but gifted with a mind that was extraordinarily active. Trace him from the day, when having mastered his letters at his mother's knee, he was sent with his sister to the village school, down to the last moment before death stilled forever the massive, active brain, and you find that the mind of Douglas not only took in the present in its comprehensive grasp, but also and always, sought to penetrate that future, in which for the honor and glory of his country, he hoped and determined to bear an active and honorable part. He was rarely, if ever, merely quiescent. He rarely, if ever, gave a partial, cold or a careless support to any measure of public policy; he was either the firm and persevering and ardent advocate, or he was the firm and persevering and ardent opponent. His mind was so constituted, that even when surrounded by counsellors and friends urging him to a policy that would result in his own personal advancement, he could not govern his acts, control his speech, or regulate his movements by any thought of personal advantage; and hence it was that there was forever coming up from the lips of professional politicians

the complaint that just as everything had been fixed, and every plan and preparation made for his elevation, Douglas would, by some speech, letter or act blow their whole scheme to atoms, and, dissipate all their hopes of ever reaching power and place through his statesmanship. If there be any present who ever participated in party struggles with him, they will, I am sure, verify the truth of what I have said. He was forever knocking over the paper houses and pasteboard castles which the professional politicians of his party were erecting for his benefit; and he did so because his mind was of that practical nature which rejected everything and all things that would not survive the severe test and crushing pressure of fixed and imperative principle.

He was remarkable for the almost instantaneous judgments he formed and expressed upon all propositions; he never wavered; he rarely doubted; and never changed his conviction. This peculiarity has been the subject of complaint from friend, and has served to poison many a shaft from an adversary's bow. Political friends, whose notion of political navigation is to keep forever in smooth water, and never go out of sight of land, always considered Douglas an unsafe leader, because, instead of looking at new questions, with the view of taking such course as would avoid a storm, and keep the cargo of spoils safely stowed, he would promptly decide the matter upon its merits, and calling on all who dare defend the right, boldly launch out to meet the gale, and battle with its consequences.

I say

And why, fellow-citizens, did Mr. Douglas act thus? that it was because he had the most unbounded confidence in the people. He believed, and the conviction had become part of his nature, that the popular heart was honest, that the popular mind was intelligent, and that time and reason would inevitably bring an honest and intelligent people to an appreciation of the right; and that a people thus led to appreciate and approve, would in