The loyal Georgian., 1866-02-24
THE EULOGY OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN.


houses of Congress, the Foreign Minis
ters, all the intelligence and character
which usually concentrates in Washing
ton during a session of Congress, came
together in the great hall of the House
Of Representatives, to pay their united
tribute of respect to the memory of our
murdered President.
AS the occasion itself was one of the
deepest interest, SO was the man upon
whom the duty devolved of giving it
voice admirably qualified for.the work as,
signed him. Not only his deservedly
high position as thinker and scholor,
hut bis world wide fame as the American
Historian, made it particularly fit that,
Mr.. Bancroft should be the eulogist of
resident Lincoln.
A perusal of his address, justihes the
opinion that he met the demands of the
occasion. Our first feeling, after its
perusal, was one of disappointment. 1t
seemed to be too cold, too intellectual, too
critical, too purely historical. 1t seemed
to lack an infusion of heart and soul.
There was so much that was genial and
loyable in the character of our revered
President, the kindly and warm hearted
man seemed, even in his public acts and
relations, so to predominant yer the mere
official, his private speech and publ c
papers we're so full of his generous
heart, as well as Of his sagacious head,
be made us all feel, to such degree, that
he was the Father of his country, as well
as the incumbent of the highest office IN
its gift, his death inspired such feeling
of personal bereavement that we came
to the reading of his eulogy prepared to
find in it full recognition of all this,
something to minister to and strengthen
the sentiments, which these attributes
naturally inspire; something to deepen
our sense OF bereavement, and draw
forth our tears afresh.
Then, in addition to the great personal
worth ofthe late President, the qualities
of mid apd heart, which, in our regards,
placed the man above the President, there
was the deep 6amnation of his taking
off ;'-his death,-just when his wise
directing mind was most neeied to per-
feet the work which he had brought so
far, and SO we'll ;-and this by the hand
Of cowardly assassin with the
thoughts and feelings growing out of this
sad event. We wanted, or thought we
did, some appropriate and appreciative
notice of all this = and the address
seemed to fail, in that it did not meutlon
and amplify this, and kindred themes.
But sober second thought has satisfied
us that it is better as it is. Considering
the time when the eulogy was given, =
long enough after the event, for the feel
ings Of horror, Indignation and grief
which it first inspired, to have softened,
not long enough, however to rob the
yillalnous act of one iota of its atrocity
or to PALATE, in the slightest degree, thu
guilt Of its infamous instigators, consider
ing the audience before which it wa
uttered, and how fast, since, as before
history has been making, and the issues o
the war developing themselves, we arr
forced to acknowledge that the speaker
pursued the wisest course. A brief his
torical abstract of events preceding thu
election Of President Lincoln, and lead
ing to that event, together with an equal
" brief allusion to the prominent Incl
dents Of his life, private and official, =
this obviously was the fitting train o
thought for such an occasion, and before
such an auditory And, allowing this
it would have been difficult to have more
successfully met the demands of The
hour. Mr. Bancroft has shown ore O