Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-10-27

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sonal honor, weak mind with cholerit
passions, intense sectional prejudice united
with great confidence in the use of arm:
these sometimes serve TO stimulate the
instruments which accomplish the deepest
and deadliest purposes.
Fellow citizens! One year ago / per-
formed a duty, such as perform to-day,
over the remains of Senator Ferguson,
who died as Broderick died, tangled in the
meshes of the code of honor. To-day there
is another and more eminent sacrifice; to-
day l renew my protest; to-day | utter
yours. The code of honor is delusion
and snare; it palters with the hope of a
true courage and binds it at the feet of
crafty and cruel skill. 1t surrounds its
victim with the pomp and grace of the
procession, but leaves him bleeding on the
altar 1t substitutes cold and delicate
preparation for courageous and mauly i'm
pulse, and arms the one to disarm the
other; it may prevent fraud between prac-
tised duelists who should be forever with
out its pale, but it makes the mere 'lrick
Of the weapon" superior TO the noblest
cause and the truest courage. Its pretence
of equality is lie-it is equal in all the
form; it is unjust in all the substance
the habitude of arms, the early training,
the frontier life, the border war, the sec
tional custom, the life of leisure; all these
are advantages which no negotiation can
neutralize, and which no courage can over
come,
But, follow citizens, the protest is not
only spoken in your words and in mine
it is written in indellible characters; it is
written in the blood of Gilbert, in the blood
of Ferguson, in the Blood of Broderick !;
and the inscription will not altogether
fade.
With the Administration of the code in
this particular case l am not here to deal.
Amid passionate grief let us strive to be
just. l give no currency to rumors of
which l personally know nothing; there
are other tribunals to which they may well
be referred, and this is not one of them.-
But | am here to say, that whatever in
the code of honor or out of it. demands or
allows deadly combat where there is not
in all things entire and certain equality, is
a prostitution of the name, is an evasion of
the substance, and is a shield, blazoned
with the name of chivalry, to cover the
malignity of murder.
And now, as the shadows turn towards
the East, and We prepare to bear these
poor remaids to their silent resting place,
let us not seek to repress the generous
pride which prompts a recital of noble
deeds and manly virtues. He rose unaid
ed and and alone; he began his career
without family or fortune, in the face of
difficulties; he inherited poverty and OBJ
scurity; he died Senator in Congress,
having written his name in the history of
the great struggle for the rights of the peo-
pie against the despotism of organization
and the corruption of power. He leaves
in the hearts of his friends the tenderest
and proudest recollections. He was honest,
faithful, earnest, sincere, generous and
brave; he felt in all the great crisis of his
life that he was leader in the ranks, and
for the rights of masses, of men, and he
could not falter When he returned from
that fatal field, while the dark wing of the
Archangel of death was casting its shad-
ows upon his brow, his greatest anxiety
was as to the performance of his duty
He felt that all his strength and all his life
belonged to the cause to which he bad de-
voted them. ''Baker,' said he-and to
,,, +l,ay ,vara lis Iast ,p1rd, sP,Iar ,yban |
l was struck | tried to stand firm, but the
blow blinded ME, and l could not"
trust it is DO shame TO manhood that tears
blinded me when he said it. Of his last |
hours | have not heart to speak. He was
The last of his race; there was no kindred
hand to smooth his couch or wipe the
death drops from his brow; but around
hat dying bed strong men, the friends of
early manhood, the devoted adhereuts of
ater life, bowed in irreprassble grief, "and
lifted up their voices and wept."
But, fellow citizens, the voice of lament
ation is no: uttered by private friendship
llone-the blow that struck his manly
oreast gas touched the heart of people,
md as the sad tidings spread, general
,loom prevails. Who now shall speak for
California !-who be the interpreter of the
wants of the Pacific coast? Who can ap-
peal to the communities of the Atlantic
Who love free labor? Who can speak for
masses of men with passionate love for
he classes from whence he sprung? Who
an defy tie Establishments Of power, the
ndolence of Office, the corruptions Of a'i-
What hopes are buried with
lin in the grave!
All! who that gallant spirit shall resume,
cap from Eurotas bank, and call from the tomb
But the last word must be spoken, and
he imperious mandate of Death must be
fulfilled. Thus, o brave heart! we bear
hee to thy rest. Thus, surrounded by
ems of thousands, we leave thee to the
qual grave. As in life, no other voice
lmong us so rung its trumpet blast upon
he ear of freemen, so in death lis echoes
will reverberate amid our mountains and
alleys, until truth and valor cease to ap-
zeal to the human heart.
His love of truth-too warm, too strong
For Hope or Fear to chain or chill
His hate of tyranny and wrong,
Burn in the breasts he kindled, still.
food friend, ah true hero! hail! and fare
veil!
SoREHEADED CYPHERING.-The States
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