The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-07
GAMALIEL BAILEY.

The cypress shadows deepen, But a few
Says ago, we were called upon TO lament the
{oss Of world honored and beloved friend,
] seph Surge, of Birmingham. And now, the
"a t arrival from Europe brings MS the sad in
eigence that our gifted and dear friend and
yeyiow-laborer, with whose name our own has
Been so long associated in the National Era,
IS 40 longer among the living.
As clouds that rake the mountain SUBMITS
A. W YES that know no guiding hand,
= So swift has brother followed brother
From sunshine TO the sunless land"
The death of Or. Bailey will be widely felt
g q public calamity. He was one of those men
FA5 mould and shape the age in which they
I've. To no one is the cause Of Freedom and
EsQgress, as embodied in the Republican par
ts7more indebted than to him. Clear sighted
Slrm hearted, generous to fault, frank in the
avewal of his opinions-earnest without fanati
cizs1, bold without temerity, Incorporating
yetcourteous and charitable, gentleman al
ways, never STOPPING to personal inyective or
centroyersy-he has been emphatically the man
70 his place and time. His views were broad
bulge of a mere partisan-and he held himself
ready always to eensure his political friends
when, in his view, they were in the wrong, and TO
commend his opponents whenever they took a
stsp in the right direction. None but those who
kr3w him well, and understood his social and
ge9ial nature and his strong love of approba-
ties, could estimate how much it cost him to
maintain, under circumstances to which a
wei ker man would have yielded as to destiny,
his perfect loyalty to truth. What most I'M.
pr ed US, IN our intercourse with him, was
the total absence Of all cant, cavil, or subter-
fus. r. the transparent honesty and Christian
ms fitness of his character.
i. that dark period when his press, in Gin
ciiN All, was twice destroyed by mobs, aud in
the erilous excitement which at Washington
Of gitive slaves, his courage never faltered.
WtYeyeything he loved in life at stake, he
disr,garded alike the menaces Of enemies and
the ersuasiOns Of friends and refused to make
an concession or apology, and, strong in bis
conscious integrity, challenged the closest scru-
torn Of the Anti-Slavery movement will find
few 1ber pictures for his canvas than that of
the light figure Of the Anti-Slavery editor,
ale with his family unarmed and unsupported
in !. heart Of siaveholding city, calmly con
fro tag an armed and excited multitude, de-
elf his determination to live and die free
msss and 10 speak and print his sentiments
free. and fully, subject only to the laws of his
COZ Try; and closing with an appeal, at once
tor !s1ng and manly, to the better natures of his
oprc5ents, until threats changed to cheers, and
the eally generous but misguided populace
pres ID towards him, not to matreat or intimi-
daI but 10 shake the hand of a brave and hon
est,Eln.
r.Jsonally, we feel assured, Dr. Bailey had
no pennies His genial hearty, healthful ma
turs- his righteousness his delicate regard for
the amenities and courtesies of life, his I'M
grudging admission Of the right to differ, his
broaG catholic charity, endeared him to a wide
circle of friends, among the warmest of whom
were ONE who totally dssented from his views
on .itical matters and the moral character OF
Slavery.
Many thoughts and memories crowd upon u.s.
but our heart is too full for words. A true and
good man has laid down to his long rest, after
bravely fighting the battle OF life, leaving his
mark upon the age, and stainless and hon
] oreS name to his children. The world wherein
| he labored is better for his sake. He will be
greatly missed in the coming struggle Heaven
| ..,
Of Freedom with Slavery. But God is over all
and no man is Indispensable The broken
ranks will be closed, and Younger men, who
have learned the lessons of Liberty in the
school OF our lamented associate, will take up
and carry forward to its glorious consuulna
ton, the great work to which his life was de
| voted. j. G. w.