Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-08-01

! COmUlttee OF the senate gave lilm scOpi
of view abroad which was enriched by Eu
ropcan travel and historic research, anC
which he ever used Tor the advancement
of our flag and honor among the nations
His knowledge Of our domestic troubles
with their hidden rocks and horrd break
ers and the measures he proposed to re
move them, show that he waa statesman
of the highest rank, fit for calm or storm
Some have lamented his death now a,
untimeIv and unfortunate for his owr
fame, since it has happened just at the
moment when the politician was lost il
the patriot, and when he had a chanc,
to atone the past errors by new devotion
Mr.. Speaker: Men do not change Their
natures so easily. The Douglas of 1861
was the Douglas of 1850, 1854, and 1888
The patriot who denounced this great re.
belion was the patriot in every fold and
lineament of his character. There is no
I page of history that | can afford to blot
The words which escaped him in the de-
lirum of his last days-when he heard
/ the "battle afar off, the thunder Of the
captains, and the shouting the
key not to harmonious life.
.Observant of the insidious presses
North and South which have led us to a
/ civil war, he ever strove, by adjustment,
/ to avoid their disastrous effects. History
will be false to her trust, if she does not
write that Stephen a. Douglas was a
/ patriot of match less purity, and states
man who, foreseeing and warning, tried
/ lilo TO tho lop,,n,S vol, ,ioh
are now so hard to rcpress, Nor will she
! permit those who now praise his last
great effort for the Union to qualify it,
| by sinister reflections VI on his former
conduct; for thus they tarnish the luster
of life devoted, i'll peace and war, to
the preservation Of the Union. His fame
never had eclipse. Its disk has ever been
bright to the eye of history. 1t sank
below the horizon, like the sun Of the
Morea, full -orbed, and in the full blaze
of its splendor.
How much we shall miss him here
How can We his associates, do without
his counsel? No longer does the murmer
go round that Douglas is speaking in the
Senate; no longer does the House become
quorumleSs to listen to his voice His
death is like the dissolution of a polite
al organism. Indeed, we could better
afford to lose a sphere Of stars from our
flag; for these might wander to RETURN
But Douglas cannot be brought back to
us. He who had such a. defiant power,
with the "thews of Ankim and the pulses
of Ttan's heart" has gone upon a re-
turnless journey. How much shall we
miss him non! We have so long regard
ed the political, social, geographical, and
commercial necessities to which our Gov
ernment was adapted as rendering it eter-
nal, that its present condition calls for
new and rare elements of craftsmanship.
Are we equal to the time and trust? OH
for Clay, Webster, Douglas, in this
great ordeal of constitutional freedom
While the country is entangled by these
serpents of revolution, we shall miss the
giant-the Hercules of the West-whose
limbs had grown sincwy in strangling the
poisonous brood?
Who is left to take his place? Alas he
has no successor. His eclipse is painful
palable, since it makes more obscure the
path by which our aienated brethren may
return. Many Union men, friends of
Douglas in the South, heard Of his de-
mise as the death knell of their loyal
hope. Who, who can take his place"
The great men of 1860, who were his
mates in the Senate, are gone, we trust,
to that better Union above, where there
arc no distlacting counselS-all, all
gone All? No thank Heaven Ken.
lucky still spares us one Of kindred pat
riotism, fashioned in better mold Of
an early day-the distinguished states
man who has Just spoken, Mr.. Critten
den whose praise of Douglas dead. to
which we have Just listened, (aus iaadori
iauddtaS est, is praise indeed; Crittenden
still stands here, lifting on high his
whitencd head, like Pharos in the sea,
to guide our storm tossed and storm tat
tered vessels to its haven Of rest. His
feet tread closely upon the retreating steps
of our statesman of the West. In tho
order Of nature, we cannot have him long.
Already his hand is outstrcched into the
other world to grasp the hand of Douglas!
While we have hlm, let us heed his warn
ing, learn from his lips the lessons of
moderation and loyalty of the elder days,
and do all and do it nobly for our below
ed Republic
In conclusion sir, we can only WORTH
ly praise Stephen a. Douglas, ny doing
something to carry ont the viii which he
left his children and his country; "Lo"e
and uphold the Consultation Of the United
StakeS."
speak it all reverently when ! say
that this was his religion. lie had faith
in that
''crccd of crecds,
The lovl lest of perfect deeds"
| would not seek to disclose the future
to which God consigned him in the mys,
terious order ol his providence; but such
virtue as hls cannot die, 1t begins to live
most in death. OF it may be said, as
laureate OF England sang, that trans
planted human worth will bloom, to
profit, othcrwhcrc. The distinguished
gentleman from Kentucky Mr., Critten-
den has alluded to the fact that the mind
Of Douglas expanded with his public ser,
vice. 1t has been my own humble OBJ
servation that he was one among the few
public men who grew in moral height