Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1865-05-20
NEW SERIES, VOL. |, NO. 33.
MISCELLANEOUS.
g'he Voice Of the English Prcss.


been perpetrated at Washington is absolute
ly without historical precedent Not in the
records of the 6ercest Europe convulsion
| in the darkest hour of partisan hatreds, have
we an example of an assassin plot at once
so foul and so senseless, so horrible and so
successful as that to which Abraham Lin
coin has ali eady fallen victim, and from
which William II. Seward can hardly escape.
Only in such instances as the murder of
! William of Orange, of Henri Quatre, or of
Capodistria, have we any deed approaching
in hiceous ferocity to that which has just
robbed the United States of one of the great
est of their Presidents. But from the fans-
! tics hateful point of view there was at least
something to be said for men like Balthazar,
Gerard and Ravaillac. They at least might
have believed that they saw embodied in
their victims the whcle living principle and
motive power of that religious freedom
which they detested. They might have
supposed that with the man would die the
great hopes and the great cause he inspired
and gnided. So, too, Of Orfini. That un-
fortunate and guilty beng bclived, at least
that in Napoleon Iii. there stood an embo-
died and concentrated system. But Abra-
ham Lincoln was no dictator and no auto
crat. lie represented simply the resolution
and the resources of great people. The
miserable excuse which fanaticism might
attempt to plead for other political assassins
has no application to the wretch whose felon
hand dealt death to the pure and noble
Magistrate Of e FREQ naticn. One would
gladly, for the poor sake of common human
ity, have caught at the idea that the crime
was but the work of some maniacal partisan.
But the mere nature of the deeds, without
any additional evidence whatever, bids de-
fiancc tc such an idea While the one muir
dercr was staying the President of the Re-
public the ether was making his even more
dastar6ly attempt upon the life OF the sick
and PROSTATE Secretary. 1t does not need
even the disclosures which have now, too
late for any good purpose, reached official
quarters to prove that two inadmen cannot
become simultaneously inspired with the
same monstrous project and impelled at the
one moment to do their several parts Of the
one bloody business. The chivalry of the
South has had much European compliment
of late. 1t has been discovered to be the
fount and origin of all the most noble and
knightly qualities which the world hereto
fore had principally known through the
medium of medieval romance. Let 1t not
be forgotten that Southern brains lately
planned the contlagrat:on Of peaceful city.
1t never can be forgotten, while history is
read, that the hands of Southern partisans
have been reddonod by the fnulast assassin.
plot the world has ever known; that they
have been treacherously dipped in the blood
of ere of the best citizens and purest pa
triots to whom the land of Washington gave
birth.
From Tho Daily News, April II.
In the hour of his great work done, Presi-
dent Lincoln has fallen. Not, indeed, in
the flush of triumph, for no thought of tri-
umph was in that honest and humble heart,
nor in the lntoxication of applause, for the
fruits of victory were not yet gathered in his
hand, was the Chief of the American people
the foremost man in the great Christian re-
volutiOn of our age, struck down. But his
task was nevertheless, accomplished, and
the battle of his life was won. So he passes
away from the heat and the toll that still
have to be endured, full of the honor that
belongs to one who has SO nobly done his
part, and carrying in his last thoughts the
sense Of deep steaGfast thankfulness that he
now could sec the assured coming of that
end for which ne. had so long striven in
faith and hope. Who shall pity or lament
such death, while the tears of nation fall
upon his corpse, and the world softly speaks
how true and good he was Who will not
bow the head submissive to the inscrutablc
decree which mocks our plans and fancies,
but even in our sorrow makes US feel that
it is wiser, juster, kinder, than our vain
wishes might have been
For in all time to come, not among Anne
ricans only, but among all who think Of
manhood as more than rank, and set worth
above display, the name of Abraham Lin
coin will be held in reverence. Rising from
among the poorest of the people, winning
his slow way upward by sheer hard work,
preserving in every successive stage char
| acter unspotted and name untainted, Sc
curing wider respect rs he became better
known, never pretending to more than he
was, nor being less than he prolessed him
self, he was at length for very singieness OF
heart and uprightness of conduct, because
all felt that they could trust him utterly, and
would desire to be guided by his trmness,
courage and sense, placed in the chair of
! President at the turning point of his nations
history. A life SO true, rewarded by dig
nifty SO majestic, was defense enough against
the petty shafts of malice which party spirit
| violent enough to light civil war, aimed
against him. The lOwly callings he had
| first pursued became his titles to greater
respect among those whose respect was
worth having the little external resticities
only showed more brightly, as the rough
matrix the golden ore, the true dignity OF
his nature Never was any one, set in such
J high place, aud surrounded with so many
motives of furious destruction, so little i'm
peached of aught blameworthy. The bit
terest enemy could finl no more to lay to
his charge than that his language was some
times too homey for supersensitive taste
or that he conveyed in a jesting phrase what
they deemed more suited for stateller style
But against these specks, what thorough
nobility have we not TO set A purity o.
thought, word, and deed never challenged
disinterestedness never suspected, an hon.
esty of purpose never impugned, gentle
ness and tenderness that never made a pri
vate enemy or alienated a frien6-tliese arr
indeed qualities which may well make a ma
tion mourn. But he nad intellect as well a
goodness. Cautiously conservative, fearing
to pass the limits of established systems
' seeking the needful amendments Iatae
: from growth than alteration, he.proved him
! self in the crisis the very man best suite
: for his post. He held back the ardent Will
b he gave confidence to the timid his relu'
7, tance to innovate did not prevent him froI
II recognizing and accepting the changes i
the situation which the progress OF event
: brought TO pass; and the firmness wit
which he refused to proceed faster than the
n - L n. w.s.s