Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-04-21
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BEDFORD PA, FRIDAY. APRIL u, 1895
TIE MARTYR PRESIDENT.

THE MARTYR PRESIDENT.
On last Saturday morning, whilst the pa
triotic citizens Of Bedford were makins
preparations for the Celebration which wa
to take place in the afternoon, the Who'll,
town was shocked BY the startling announce
ment that the President Of the Enitec
States had been assassinated the night Be-
fore, In very short time this terrible
news carrying with it sorrow and sadness
was conveyed to every hamlet and villageir
our vast country And now as we write wi
can scarcely realize the solemn fact, that
Abraham Lincoln is no longer among the
living. The greatest man Of the nation has
been stricken down, and we are led to ex-
claim, How have the mighty fallen.
Henceforth, Abraham Lincoln will i've onl,
in history. His deeds viii survive him.
America viii never let his name die. He
was born for Immortality. The many good
actions which he performed, and the many
noble words which he uttered, viii hence
forth be the theme of the poet and the sub
ject of the historian Once we were per.
niitted to hear him--on the memorable oc-
casion of the Conservation Of the National
Cemetery at Gettysburg, and never shall We
forget the impression left upon our mind
We can imagine that we yet see his tall
commanding form, and there amidst the as
sembled multitudes, gathered from every
loyal State in the Union, who had gone
thither TO listen to the classic eloquence OF
the noble Everett, and TO pay last tribute
to the brave departed who had fallen on
those historic plains, we can almost
hear him again say. The nation shall, ,un-
der God, have new birth of freedom, and
the Government of the people, for the peo-
pie, and for all people, shall not perish from
earth. = Never were words better than
these uttered But he is now gone forever
from our midst, and no longer will the ma
ton, relying on him as in times past, turf
to him as their strength and hope. Though
be was surrounded by enemies tainted with
the darkest infamy, and we were in the
midst of dreadful intestine strife, in what
one of the Romans termed belEaspe p1a,squana
cirile, a more than civil war, and though he
encountered opposition such as ruler had
never before expeI ienced, andwas atthe same
time the subject of the vilest calnmny and
the most malignant persecution perhaps the
world ever saw, yet true to his manhood
true to the people who had elevated him to
his responsible position, with firm convic-I
ton of duty and am implicit confidence inI
God, be never for one moment sweryed from
the right. The keen shafts of satire leveIedI
at him by the disloyal fell harmless at his
feet, while armed treason failed to securei
the reins of government. 1t only remained
for cruel assassin to strike the fatal blow
but he is now at rest, and his worst enc
mics will cease to oppose him.
AFTER ife's itful fever, he sleeps well:
treason has done his worst nor steel norN
poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him farther
Soon he will be conveyed to his westernI
home, the scene of his earlier days and of
happy reoolaations. HE rerrlinas wiz Del
buried beneath the sod of the prairie, and
wild winds sweeping from the distant lakes
viii wave the tall and bending grass over his
hallowed grave. Springfield will hereafter
become as sacred as the Hermitage, Ash
land and Mount Vernon, 1t viii be anoth-
er Mecca toward which many weary pill
prim VIII direct his steps Many devotee
of freedoms will beat a path to his tomb,
streW bright flowers over his grave, and fill
his new cut urn with tears. For he was al
defender Of that Freedom which was pur-
chased by the sword that freedom which
born amid tempests and storms, bap-
tized by the blood and tears of innocence, /,
and purified by the fires Of persecution, is
to-day our rich inheritance Though the
bloody hand of treason has triumphed for
the moment, yet we are not without hope
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church; SO that while Freedom may be
buried in worse than Lethean darkness, yet
like the tabled phenix which was said to
rise from its own ashes, it will yet come
forth from these crucial fires, purer, fairer,
nobler. We are ON the threshold of a
brighter era. That win be the Era of Free
dom. Soon the last elank of slavery will
have forever died away on the ears of the
oppressed And if any one man has been
more instrumental than another, in unloos1
ing the fetters of the oppressed, and giving
liberty to four millions of American bonds
men, that man is ABRAHAM LINCOLN.