ON THE DEATH OF HON. EDWARD D. BAKER, DELIVERED IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1861. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1862. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FRIDAY, January 24, 1862. Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the Eulogies delivered on the occasion of the announcement of the death of Hon. EDWARD D. BAKER, Senator from Oregon, be printed for the use of the House. Attest: EM. ETHERIDGE, Clerk. ADDRESSES ON THE DEATH OF HON. EDWARD D. BAKER. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1861. DEATH OF HON. EDWARD D. BAKER. The President of the United States entered the Senate Chamber, supported by Hon. LYMAN TRUMBULL and Hon. O. H. BROWNING, Senators from the State of Illinois. He was introduced to the Vice President, and took a seat beside him on the daïs appropriated to the President of the Senate. J. G. Nicolay, Esq., and John Hay, Esq., Private Secretaries to the President of the United States, took seats near the central entrance. Address of MR. NESMITH, of Oregon. Mr. PRESIDENT: The usage of this body imposes upon me the melancholy duty of announcing the death of my late colleague, EDWARD DICKINSON BAKER, United States Senator from the State of Oregon, who fell gloriously fighting under our national flag, at the head of his command, near Leesburg, in Virginia, on the 21st day of last October. Mr. BAKER was a native of England. While young his family emigrated to Philadelphia, where he resided with them for several years, and subsequently emigrated to the State of Illinois. He early embraced the profession of the law, and became eminent as an advocate at the bar, composed of the ablest lawyers in the West, many of whom have since achieved honorable distinction in other pursuits. Mr. BAKER was twice chosen a Representative to Congress from Illinois, and at the commencement of the war with Mexico was selected to command a regiment of his constituents. He served with distinction at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and assumed the command of his brigade after the fall of General Shields. In 1852 he went to California, and by his commanding ability soon secured a fine legal practice, which he retained until he changed his residence to Oregon. As an orator, Mr. BAKER ranked high, and was peculiarly fascinating in his manner and diction; as a soldier, he was possessed of a rare aptitude for the profession of arms, combined with that cool, unflinching courage which enabled him to perform the most arduous duties under trying circumstances, and to look upon the most fearful peril with composure. We all recollect how, during the late session of Congress, he threw his influence on the side of his country; and when responding to what he denominated the "polished treason" of a Senator upon this floor, he declared himself in favor of "bold, sudden, forward, and determined war." What he said as a senator he was willing to do as a soldier. It is but a few short months since, in the presence of this body, he took upon himself a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States; that covenant has been sealed with his heart's blood. Death has |