Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1865-05-12
Mistella neoMs.
Meeting in Union Square.
GRAFTON ny GEORGE BANCROFT.

At 2. N. large mass meeting was
held at Union Square to give more formal
expression to the sorrow of the city. j
\. King presided, and the exercises were
opened with prayer by the Rev. DR.. Syng
Mr.. George Bancroft then delivered
the following impressive oration:
Our grief and horror at the crime
which has clothed the continent in mourn.
ing, find no,adequatc expression in wrods,
and no relief in tears. The President of
the United States Of America has fallen
by the hands Of an assassin. Neither the
office with which he was invested by the
approved choice Of a mighty people, nor
the most simplc-harted kindness Of nature,
could save him from the Gendsh passions
of relentless fanaticism. The waiings of
the millions attend his remains as they
are borne in solemn procession over our
great rivers, along the seaside, beyond
tho mountains, across the prairie, to otheir
final resting place in tho valley Of the
Mississippi. The echoes Of his funeral
knell vibrate through the world. and the
friends of freedom of every tongue and
in every cline are his mourncrs'
Too few days have passed away since
Abraham Lincoln stood in the flush of
vigorous manhood, to permit any attempt
at an analysis of his character or an ex.
position of his career. We fnd it hard
to believe that his large eyes, which in
their softness and beauty expressed noth-
ing but benevolence' gentleness, are
closed in death we almost look for the
pleasant smilo that brought out moro viv.
idly the earnest cast Of his features, which
were serious even to sadness. A few
years ago he was a village attorney. en-.
gagged in the support of a rising family,
unknown to fame, scarcely named beyond
his neighborhood his administra ton
made him the most conspicuous m.n in
his country, and drew ON him 6rst the as.
,onished gaze, and then the respect and
admiration of the world.
Those who come after ns will decide
how much of the wonderful results of his
public career is due to his own good COM
mon sense, his shrewd sagaci.y, readiness
Of wit, Interpretation Of the public mind,
his rare combination Of 6xcdnsss and
pliancy,shis steady tendency Of purpose
how much to the American people, who,
as he walked with them side by side, in
spired him with their own wisdom and
energy and how much to the overruling
laws Of the moral world, by which the
sel6shness of evil is made to defeat itself
But never after allowance, it will remain
that members Of the government which
preceded his administration opened the
gates to treason, and he closed them
that when he went to Washington the
ground on which he trod shook under his
feet, and he left the republic on solid
foundation that traitors had seized pub.
lie forts and arsenas, and he recovered
them for the United States, to whom they
belonged; that the capital, which he found
the abode of slaves, is now the home on
y of tho free; that the boundless public
domain whith was grasped at, and, in a
great measure. held for the diffusion Of
slavery, is now irrovocably devoted to
freedom; that then men talked jargon
Of a balance Of power in republic be-
tween slave states and free states, and
now the foolish words arc blown away
forever by tho breath Of Maryland,
Missouri and Tennessee; that q terrible
cloud Of political hercsy rose from the
abyss threatening to hide the light of the
sun, and under its darkness a rebellion
was rising into indeinablo proportions
now the atmosphere is purer than ever