Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-02-23
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Memorial Address of George Bancroft
4 Verbatim Report.


croft Memorial Address on Abraham Lam
eoln, delivered in Washington on Monday !,
Senator's, Representatives. of Ameraca
GoDIN HISTORY s
That God rules in the affairs of men is as
certain as any truth of physical science. On
the great moving power which is from the
beginning, hangs the world OF the senses
and the world of thought and action. Eter-
nal wisdom marshals the great procession of
the nations, working in patient continuity
through the ages, never halting and never
abrupt, encompassing all events in its over
SIGHT, and ever efeeting its will, though
mortals may slumber In apathy or oppose
with madness. Kings are lifted up or thrown
down, nations come and go, republics -four
ish and wither dynasties pass away like q
tale that is told; but nothing is by chance
though men in their ignorance of cause,
may think so. The deeds of time are gov
erned, as well as Judged by the DEGREES of
eternity. The caprice of feeting existenees
bends to the .immovable omnipotence which
plants its foot on all the centuries, and has
neither change of purpose nor repose.
Sometimes, like a messenger through the
thick darkness of night, it steps along mys-
terious ways; but when the hour strikes for
people, or for mankind to pass into a new
| form Of being, unseen hands draw the bolts
| from the gate offuturity; an all subduing in
| huence prepares the minds of men for the
coming revolution :; those who plan resist
ance find themselves in conflict with the will
of Providence rather than with human de-
vices; and all hearts aud all understandings,
most of all the opinions and influences OF
| the unwilling, are wonderfully attracted and
compelled to bear forward the change which
becomes more an obedience to the law OF
universal nature than submission to the ar
| bitrament of man,
! GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
| In the fulness of time republic rose up
| in the wildernesses of America. Thousands
| of years had passed away before this child
| of the ages could be born From whatever
there were of good in the systems of former
centuries she drew her nourishment; the
wrecks of the past were her warnings. With
! the deepest sentiment of faith fixed in her
inmost nature, she disenthralled religion
! from bondage to temporal power, that her
/ worship might be worship only in spirit and
in truth. The wisdom which had passed
from India through Greece, with what
! Greece had added of her own; the jurispru-
| dence of Rome; the medieval municlpall-
ties the Teutonic method of representa-
ton the political experience of England;
| the benignant wisdom of the expositors Of
the law of nature and of nations IN France
and Holland, all shed on her their selectest
/ influence She washed the gold OF political
wisdom from the sands wherever 1t was
found; she cleft it from the rocks; she
cleaned it among ruins. Out OF all the dis,
| coyeries of statesmen and sages, out OF al
. of ms human iIfn. she COM
piled perennial political philosophy, the
] primordal principles of national ethics. The
wise men of Europe sought the best govern
ment in a mixture OF monarchy, arlstoeracy
| and democracy; and America went behlnc
these names to extract from them the vita
clements of social forms, and blend them
| harmoniously in the free commonwealth
/ which comes nearest to the illustration o.
the natural equality of all men. She en-
trusted the guardianship OF established
rights to law: the movements OF reform t(
the spirit of the people, and drew her force
/ from the happy reconciliation OF both.
lTERRIroRIAI. EXTENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Republics had heretofore been limited t.
small cantons or cities and their dependen
cies; America, doing that OF which the ilk'
had not before been known upon the earth
or believed by kings and statesmen to b
possible, extended her republic across
continent. Under her auspices the vine 0
liberty took deep root and filled the land
the hills were covered with its shadow lt
boughs were like the goodly cedars, ant
reached INTO both oceans. The fame of thi
only daughter of freedom went out into al
the lands of the earth; from her the hu
man race drew hope.
PROPHECIES ON THE CONSEQUENCES o.
SLAVERY.
Neither hereditary monarchy nor heredit
arv aristocracy planted itself on our soil; tn
only hereditary condition that fastened 1t
self upon us was servitude. Nature work
in sincerity, and is ever true to its law. Th
bee hives honey, the viper dlstlls poison
the vine stores it's juices and so do the pop
nv and the ufas. In like manner, ever
thought and every action ripens Its seed
each in its kind. In the individual man
and still more in a nation, just idea give
life. and progress, and glory; false conceI
ton portends disaster, shame, and death; I
hundred and twenty years ago, west Jel
sey Quaker wrote This trade OF import
! / ing slaves is dark gloomIness hanging owe
the land; the consequences Will be grleyou
to posterity" At the North the growth
slavery was arrested by natural causes; /
the region nearest the tropics 1t throw
rankly. and worked itself into the organise
of the rising states. Virginia stood betwee
the two; with soil, and climate, and resoul
ces demanding free labor, and yet capaDl
of the profitable employment of the SLAVE
She was the land OF great statesmen; an
thew saw the danger of her being whelme
under the rising flood in time to struggl
against the delusions of avarice and pride
Ninety-four years ago the legislature of VI
ginia addressed the British king, saying thu
the trade in slaves was ''of great lnhunlani
tv.i' was opposed to the security and hal
: niness'' OF their constituents, would J
d time have the most destructive influence,
t and s'endanger their very existence. An
7 the king answered them, that upon pal
of his highest displeasure, the Importatloo
: Of slaves should not be in any respect ol
structed. . 'sPharisaical Britain, wrot
: Franklin in behalf Of Virginia, to prlc
thyself in setting free a single slave th'
!, happened to land on thy coasts, while u
4 laws continue traffic whereby SO mar
i hundreds of thousands are dragged INTO
: slavery that is entailed on their posterity
; "A serious view of this subject, SAID Ia
rick Henry in 1913, give a gloomy pro
pect to future times. In the same yea
George Mason wrote to the legislature
Virginia The laws of impartial prov
dence may avenge our injustice upon o.
'' posterity In Virginia and IN the Cont
mental Congress, Jefferson, with the appr
: val of Edmund Pendleton, branded Il
' slaye.trade as piracy; and he fixed in q
q Declaration of Independence as the corn