Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1865-04-21

| ~ On ~ SuneB0AY lA9tS
time to mourn.-Ec. 34.
The question might be raised, whether
these words were intended simply to teach
that there are seasons when 10 mourn, OF
to declare that there are occasions when il
is proper to exhibit grief. Both of these
truths are fully exemplified at this hour
The people of these United States are weep
ing all, over the land, and the impartial
judgment of God doubtless will be tha,
they have abundant cause for their sorrow,
We are met in obedience to an invitation
of the proper authorities of the country to
solemuize the occasion of the funeral OF
President Lincoln, who was murdered on
the l4th instant. in the City of Washing
ton. The calamity. in every Way is so
dreadful that it almost paralyzes the tongue.
Sill, actuated by high sense of duty, |
must give public utterance to my conscien-
tious convictions.
The first thing which we may consider is,
TIE CRIME WHICH HAS BEEN Committed. 1t
is the duty of US all, aud especially of God g
mipisters, to hold 1t up to the utmost op-
probium. The crime was murder,-the
highest which one man can commit against
another. Yet it was not an ordinary assss.
sluation, but it was intended to be q rep
resentative act, directed toward the most
|
lc1use he occupied that station. 1t was
murder and treason combined in one,-an
effort to take the life of the nation, and
therefore thousand fold more execrable
and guilty. The crime was intended to be
very comprehensive. Six persons were
wounded, and plan seems to have been
matured to take the lives of several other
prominent men connected with the govern
ment. The assassination was mean and
cowardly. What for instance could have
been more bastard than the attack on the
Secretary of State who was lying about at
the point Of death with an arm and law
broken ? And perhaps it should be added
that it was as foolish iRs it was horrible
Booth evidently INTENDED II to be in the in.
t!eEast ot the South. Yet q severer misfor.
tune coulu scarcely have befaIIeu that sec.
ton OF the country than the death OF the
| President, who was notoriously the heat
| friend which the South had in the admin
istration. D.
cannot help noticing some of the causes
which prepared the way for the crime. Oue
of them doubtless was the profession which
the principal murderer followed. He was
| a trsgedian as are most of his family. The
stage probably bad familiarized him with
scenes of blood, until he looked upon the
death of the President very much as a cub
lime tragedy with which his name hereafter
was to be linked. Another cause was the
morbid view entertained by many persons
of the evil of such an act. My charity ia
wide enough to induce me to believe, until
evidence ia obtained TO the contrary, that
the late go called government of the South
ern Confederacy, had no knowledge of the
assassination. Still many people at the
South ,hs know from actual residence there.
made light of the guilt of such O deed. So
q false notion was fostered until at last
these men gloried in the murder, Let uo
take care never to tr1e with the great priu4
Ciples of morality. Yet another cause more
| general in it's nature is the dreadful pas
| siors which civil war engenders. We had
already seen it depopulsting and burning
cities and villages. Brother had fallen BY the
hand of brother in battle. But it remained
for the awful evil to culminate in the fiend
| ish murder of the foremost man of the ma
ton. God grant that the war may now be
ended, and that our people may never again
be so mad as to pluCge into this abyss OF
woe. 1T. ,-...-. an. eI.. ! 80.
The second thing which we may consid-
er is, the character of him for IOh0n zoe
mourn to day. The time has not yet come
when the exact position which Abraham
Lincoln is entitled to hold in history can
|
many things which even now with cousid
erable assurance can be affirmed with ref.
erence to him. He. rose by his own efforts
from. very humble walk in life to the
highest Office in the gift Of the nation.
Though born of a, class of people who en-
joy but few early advantages, he eovercame
poverty and Ignorance, and 7ascended from
ono position of afluence to another until
4 he was elected and reelected to the Presi-
Il dencY. And when be died he had tri.
Il nmphcd in war as well as in politics, and
4 to crown all, he had achieved the etill no
bier conquest of his own spirit. He al.
ways seems to have sought to promote
what he believed to be the best interests oil
his country. He may have erred in come
of his plans, but if SO the error was one Of
Judgment and not of the heart. l am per-
suaded that the decision Of history with
reference to his public career will be the
same that OF his acquaintances with ref.
erence to his private character, that he tVd,
an honest man. He was posseased of {
large degree Of benevolent feeling: Hi
Kindness indeed was proVerbial If auy
nan al! this stsge;o of the warimight havl
been stern and reVengeful toward his en-
j emies, surely Mr.. Lincoln was the man
No one had been more bitterly abused anC
hated. Yet when he had his enemies a
his feet, he permitted them with unusua
honors to lay down their arms aud returr
to their homes. The very last Official &C
which he ever performed was,-as is Ger
taiuly known,-to Sign permit to Jacot
Thompson, late Secretary of the Interior
under Mr.. Buchanan, to leave for Europe
The Presidents beneVolence, especially a,
it stands in contrast with the hellish ma
Lightly of his murderer, will be them,
over which many future writer will lin.
: ger in admiration. Mr.. Lincoln also wal
very friendly to evangelical religion. W,
regret that he fell In q theatre. Yet it ii
said that he had gone reluctantly aud onl,
| To nraEant a nnnnlar disan nnintnnnH. y.