Canton Weekly Register

The Dead.—It is a little singular, says the Albany Register, that, prior to the death of Gen. Harrison, 4th of April, 1841, not one of greatest men of the Republic ever died while in office, nor any holding high official stations in the administration of the Government. Washington, the elder Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, died at various periods after their retirement from public life. The same is true, we believe, of all the eminent men connected with earlier history. During the administration of John Tyler, the terrible explosion of the "peace maker" on board the United States steam frigate Princeton, killed Mr. Gilmer, Secretary of War, and Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of State. Mr. Upshur was the first Secretary of State who died in office. Since his time, with the exceptions of Gen. Jackson, and ex-President Polk, all high in office or mighty in intellect, who have died in the United States, have breathed their last 'with the harness on'—'good and faithful servants to the last.'

It may be added in this connection, that of those eminent men who have died within the past eleven years, all were members of the Whig party except Gen. Jackson, and Messrs. Polk and Calhoun. At one period the latter stood high in honor and official station as a Whig. In the deaths of Harrison, Adams, Taylor, Clay and Webster, the Whig party has been called upon with startling frequency, to mourn the loss of its best beloved, highest honored and most warmly cherished members. And in the loss of Polk, Jackson, Calhoun, Wright and Woodbury, the Democratic party has had cause for sincere grief.

But in the deaths of some of these men all merely party lines have been broken through, and the whole nation has mourned. The public grief over the coffins of Clay, Calhoun and Webster, has never been exceeded in the history of our country, save when the news of the death of the great and good Washington was announced, nor equalled except in the obsequies paid to the beloved Lafayette.