American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-07-12


spleadors of the coming day, that he was
about to enter on the full fruition of his
long cherished hopes of ransomed and
reunited land lie had already scaled a
height from which the eye of faith might
sweep the boundless'panorama of happy
continent, ,.lapt in the repose of universal
brotherhood-its brown forests aud gold
bearing mountains bathed in the tranquil
sunshine and sleeping in the quiet Soli'
.tude of nature-its lakes and rivers alive
with the glancng keels of an abundant
and industrious commercials plains
dimpling with golden harvests-aud the
tall spires of its multituduous cities, the
resorts cf traffic, and the homes of learn
ing and the mechanic arts, pointing to the
skies. But it was not his fate to enter
into that rest which such vision might
have foreshadowed. Another and more
enduring was to receive him into its cold
embrace. He dies unconscious, without
warming, and without a struggle, in the
very hour of his triumph-n no darken'
en- chamber-tossed by no agonies on an
uneasy eouch-with no lamentations and
no wall of woe-no narrowing, heart
breaking farewels--to disturb his spirit
in its heavenward fight: but by an un.
seen hand-in moment of respite from
corroding care-and in the presence of
the people whom he loved With so lit
tie to feaS he could not have made a hap
pier exodus. How marked the contrast
between his own last hours, and the last
of the public life of the Rebel Chief whose
wicked counsels have either inspired the
blow, or Strengthened the hand that reach
ed his liie-Abraham Lincoln, who never
injured human being, dying a. the cap
itol in the hour of his triumph, with no
rancor in his heart, and nothing but char
ity and forgiveness for his enemies upon
his lips-and Jefferson Davis, with the
blood of half million of people on his
hands, flying like thief in the night
through the swamps of Georgia, and cap
tured in the disguise of woman, with
out even one manly effort at resistance
1t had been better for his fame, if he had
died too even as he lived The genius of
Milton almost flags under the sublime
story of the fight and fall of the apos'
tate archangef when conquered but not
dlsmayed, he plunged over the crystal
battlements of heaven "with hideous ruin
and combustion down." i'll startled Chaos
shook through his wild anarchy. 1t was
reserved for the guilty leader of this not
less infamous revolt, to find even lower
deep, where the dignity of the epic muse
can never reach him.
Rest then, honored shade spirit ot
the gentle Lincoln, rest No stain of in
nocent blood is on thy hand. No widows
tear-no orphans wall shall ever trouble
thy repose, No agonizlng struggle be
tween the conflicting claims of mercy and
of Justice; shall afiict thee more Thou
hast but gone to swell the long procession
of thatnoble army of martyrs, who left
their places vacant at the family board
to perish for the faith in Southern dun
geons, or to leave their bones unburried
or ridged with countless graves the soil
that they have won aud watered with then
blood. Though lost to us, thou art moi
lost to memory. The benefactors of man
kind live on beyond the grave For thee
death ushers in the life that viii not die
Thy deeds will not die with thee, nor the
cause or nation which was aimed at in
the mortal blow that laid thee low. What
though no sculptured column shall arise
to mark thy sepulchre and proclaim tC
future times, the broad humanity, the
true nobility of soul, the moderation in
success, that, by the confession Of his
harshest critics, have crowned the. untu
tored and unpretending child Of the
prares, as the "King Of men Z" What
though the quiet woodland and cemetry
that shelters thy remains, and woos the
pilgrim to its .eafy shades, shall show nc
costly cenetaph-no offerings save those
which the. hand of affection plants, OF
that of nature sheds upon the hallowed
mound that marks thy resting place
What though the muse of history who
registers thy acts, and inscIibes thee
high among the favored few to whom
God has given the privileges Of promo.
ting the happiness of their kind, should
fail to record the quiet and unobtrusive
virtues that cluster round the hearth
and heart, and shrink frcm the glare oi
day? There is chronicler more faith.
full that will take thoy story up where
history may leave it. The pen of the
Recording Angel will write it in the chan
Gerry of Heaven, while the lips of child
hood will be taught to repeat the tragic
tale until memory shall mellow into the
golden light of tradition; and poesy shall
claim the story for its theme. But long
ere this-even now in our own day and
generation-the cotton fields and the rice
swamps of the South will be vocal with
thy praise, while the voice of the eman
cipated white man shall swell the choral
harmony that ascends from the lips Of
the dusky child of the tropics, as he
lightens his daily toll--now sweet because
no longer unrequitted-by extempori
zlng his simple gratitude in unpremedi
tated lays in honor of the good President
who died to make him free. The might
lest potentates of earth have labored
vainly to secure place in the memories
and the regards of men, by dazzling ex'
hibitions of their power to enslave. Both
Memphiau and Asyrian kings, whose very
names had perished but for the researches
of the learned. have sought to perpetuate