Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1859-10-28
AN ELOQUENT ORiTION.
On the Death of Senator BrOderlck,
by Col. E. Nd Baker.


CITIzENs oF CALIFORNIA: A Senator lies
dead in our midst He is wrapped IN bloody
shroud. and We, to whom his tolls and cares
were given, are about to bear him to the place
appointed for all the living. 1t Is not tit that
such a man should pass 20 the tomb unheralded;
It is not fit that such life should steal un-
noticed to its close; il is not fit that such
death should call forth 30 rebuke, or be sur
rounded by no public lamentation. 1c is this
conviction which ;mpels the gathering of this
assemblage. We are here, of every station
and pursuit, of every creed aud character, each
in his capacity of citizen, to swell the mouFnful
tribute which the majesty of the people offers
to the unreplying dead. He lies to-day sur
rounded by little of funeral pomp. No banners
droop above the bier, no melancholy music
floats upon the reluctant air. The hopes of
high hearted friends droop hike fading flowers
upon his breast, and the struggling sigh eompels
the tear In eyes that seldom weep. Around
him are those who have known him best and
loved him longest; who have shared the triumph,
and endured the defeat. Near him are the
gIavest and noblest of the State, possessed by
a grief at once earnest and sincere; while be-
yond, the masses of the people that he loved, /,
and for whom his life was given, gather ike
thunder-c cloud of swelling and indignant grief.
In such presence, fellow-ctizens, let US
linger for moment at the portals of the tomb.
whose shadowy arches vibrate to the public
heart, to speak few brief words of the man,
of his life, asd of his death.
Mr.. Broderick was born in the District of
Columbia, in 1919; he was of Irish descent,
and of obscure and respectable parentage; ne
bad little of early advantages, and never sum-
moned to his aid complete and finished eduea-
tion. His boyhood, as, indeed, his early man.
hood, WAS passed in the city of Naw York, and
the loss of bis father early stimulated him to
the efforts which maintained his surviving
mother and brother, and served also to fix and
form bis character even iu his boyhood. His
love for bis mother was his first and most dis
tlnctiye TRAIT of character, and when his brother
.sied-an early and sudden death--the shock
gave serious and reflective east to his habits
md his thoughts, which marked tiisu 70 the
last hour of bis life. He was always flied
with pride, and energy, and ambition-his
pride was in the manliness aud force of his
character, and no man had more reason. His
energy was manifest in the most resolute
struggles with poverty and obscurity, and bis
ambition impelled him to seek foremost place
in the great race for honorable power.
Up 10 the time Of his arrival in California,
his life had been passed amid events incident
TO such character Fearless, self-relant,
open i'll his eumities, warm in bis friendship,
welded to his opinions, and marching directly
10 his purpose through and over all opposition,
his career was chequred with success and defeat.
But even IN defeat his energies were strengths
ened and his character developed. When he
reached these shores his keen observation
taught him, at once, that be trod broad field
and that higher career was before him lie
had no false pride; sprung from a people and
of race whose vocation was labor, he tpiled
with his own hands, and sprang at bound
from the workshop to the legislative hail
From that hour there congregated around him
and against him the elements of success and
,iefeat-strong friendships, bitter enmities,
high praise, malignant cai2mnies-Bat he trod
with free and proud step thar onward path
whi;b has led him 10 glory and the gave.
1t would be idle for NE at this hour ana IN
this place to speak of all that history with un-
lnitigared praise it will be idle for his enemies
hereafter to deny his claim to noble virtues
and high purposes When in the Legislature
he boldly denounced the special legislation
which is lne curse OF new country, he proved
Lis courage aud his rectitude. Waen he op-
posed the various aud sometimes successful
schemes to strike out the salutary provisions Of
The Constitution, which gucrced tree labor, be
was true to al the better instincts Of his life.
When, prompted by his ambition aud the ad-
rratiou of his friends, he first sought seat
~ the Senate Of the United States, he sought
the highest Of all positions BY legitimate effort,
aud failed with honor.
Itsis M duty to say that, in my judgment,
&a /. H., ~
me Senatorial election, he committed error
which | think be lived TO regret 1t would
haye been a violation Of the true principle OF
representative government, which 10 reason,
public or private, could justify, and could
lever have met the permanent approval OF gOod
aud wise men. Yet, while | say this over his
bier, let me remind you Of the temptation to
such an of the plans aud the reasons
which prompted it-of the many good purposes
1t was intended to effect. And If ambition,
''he last infrmily OF noble minds, led him
tor moment from the better PATH let me re-
mind you how nobly he regained 1t.
1t is impossible to speak within the limits OF
this address of the events of that session OF Inc
Legislature at which be was elected 10 the
Slnate Of the United States; but some things
should not be passed in silence here. Inc
contest between himself and the present Sen
ator had been bitter and personal. He had
'rumphed. He had been wonderfully sustained
his friends, and stood ccnfessedly "the first
Ia honor and the first In place. He yielded
TO an appeal made TO his magnanimity by his
ioe Ii he judged unwiseiy, he has paid the
forfeit well. Never in the history OF political
warfare has any public map been SO pursued,
lever has mahgulty SO exhausted itself.
Feilow-cltizeu-, he man that lies before you