Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-09-09

scarcely less distinguished He was for
years the associate in that arena Of the first
men of the Union, often their opponent in
debate, and never coming out of the contest
without honor Indeed, as a ready and
effective debaier he had very few equals.
His long and laborious training in the in
telIegtnal battlefelds of the West, his clear
mental conceptions, and the direct and for
chile rendering OF his thoughts gave him a
power in extemporaneous discussions which
few other men possessed.
1t is unnecessary TO say to you, who knew
him 80 we'll, that there were occasions when,
under the influence Of strong excitement, he
rose 10 the very highest flights Of oratory;
when the passion by which he was moved
broke out into those pointed land epigram-
matte utterances, which live for years after
the lips of the speaker have been closed
forever. Such an occasion occurred in the
debate on the Mexican war in the House of
Representatives in 1876, when he was but
thirty'-three years of age, Some Of the
ablest and most prominent members Of that
body had denounced the war as 'unholy,
unrighteous and damnable;;" when Mr..
DOUGLAS turned upon them with the follow
ing oltburst of fiery indignation.
Sir, l tell these gentlemen it requires
more charity than falls to the lot of frail
man to believe that the expression Of such
sentiments is consistent with the sincerity Of
their PROFESSIONALISM patriotism, honor
and duty 10 their country. Patriotism ema-
mates from the heart; it fills the soul, in
spires the whole man with a devotion TO his
country's cause, and speaks and acts the
same language. America wants no friends,
lI.r Of h..
after war Is declared, condemns the Justice
OF her cause, and sympathizes with the
enemy; all such are traitors in their hearts,
and it only remains for them to commit
some overt act for which they may be dealt
with according to their deserts"
Though Mr.. DOUGLAS was always a mem
Der of the Democratic party, he never con-
sidered himself bound by his association to
support measures which he believed wrong.
His sense of right, his conscientious convic-
tons of duty were, with him, obligations
above all party ties. II was under this high
feeling of honor and self-respect, and with
an independence worthy of all praise, that
he broke away from the political associa-
tons with which he had been all his life
ident fled, and denounced, resisted and
opposed with all the resistless energy of his
character and with all the earnestness of
his eloauence, what he denOminated the
Lecompton fraud. There can be no higher
evidence Of his stern integrity than his
course on this occasion; no better illustra-
ton of the truth that though party ties
may bind us on questions of mere expe-
diency, no honest man will hesitate to break
away from them when the alternative is to
do, on question Of principle, what he feels
to be wrong.
The last public appearance of Mr.. DOUG-
LAS was on two occasions, one Immediately
the other. On his return to this
State, after the attack on Fort Sumter, he
the members Of the Legislature at
their request, denouncing the rebellion, urg-
ing the oblivion of ali party differences, APP
peaiing to his political friends and oppo-
nents to unite in SUPPORT ofthe Government
and calling on the people to come in their
strength to its rescue from the perils which
surround it, and preserve the Union from
being broken up by force of arms. In a
speech to the people of Chicago, six days |
the same earnest appeals were
made to them to lay aside all considerations |
but that of preserving the Government of
heir fathers. On this occasion he was re- !
,eived by all parties with demonstrations of |
respect, surprising in entlrusiasm, if posi- |
Die, all other of the great ovations of his |
ife These speeches, though pregnant with |
he most determined spirit and with an I'M |
loubting faith in the issue of the contest, |
we're obviously made under depression of /
ceiling. He had been one of the most con-
istent, resolute and efficient defenders of |
he constitutional rights of the Southern |
States.
He had done everything that justice and
dictated to sustain them. To /
he members of the Legislature he said
Whatever errors l have committed have
,een leaning too far to the Southern section
If the Union against my own;" to the peo-
DE of Chicago that he had gone "to /
he uttermost extremity of magnanimity
md generosity" and that the return was
war upon the Government" 1t was this
Iense of the inutility of his own personal |
Iacrifces and labors, and the ungenerous re-
urn on the part of those for whom he and |
others acting with him had done so much, |
hat embittered the last days of his life, and |
aggravated the disease under which he was |
aboring. A vein of sadness runs through |
these two last speeches, and seems now, as |
we look back to the events speedily follow |
ing death. On these two intellectual eff
forts his reputation may well rest, as exam
pies of the pUrest patriotism and of an I'M
dying faith in the ultimate triumph of the
cause of the Union.
A few hundred yards west of US, shut out
from oursight by an intervening grove, stands
the Chicago University. In the magnitude
of its extent, the massiveness of its archi-
lecture, and its well-balenced proportions, it
is not only an ornament to the city, but liv-
ing testimonial of the liberality with which
private wealth has contributed to the cause
of science. Two hundred students are re-
ceiving instructions within Its walls from
learned and accomplished faculty, and from
its noble observatory astronomy holds night
ly consultations with the heavenly bodies.
The ample grounds in the center of which
the institution stands, were the munifcent
gift of Mr.. DOUGLAS, whose name the main
edifce bears. The instruction, which in his
youth he labored so hard to obtain, he wished
to see fully extended to the young men of
this city and State. And thus shall the two
Of which he was one of the
and liberal founders, and this of
which you have laid the foundation to-day
stand side by side, we trust, for ages to come,
as great landmarks of civilization, on the
shore Of Lake Michigan, where, little more
than quarter Of century ago, majestic
nature from the beginning of time had not
vet been reused from her silent and solitary
sleep.
And now, felIow-citizens, our task is done;
mine, in this brief and imperfect delineatiOn
of the character and review Of the services
of Mr.. DOUGLAS; yours, in laying deep in
the solid earth the foundation-stone of the
structure which is to bear his name, and
stand for centuries as a memorial to your
children Of one whose talents, political and
personal integrity, and devotion to the pub
lie welfare, you would wish them to know
and to emulate. In the changefulness Of
human things the time may come when the
stone which is to surmount and crown it may
be brought down to the level Of that which
is TO be laid at its base to-day; for families,
and races. and communities, and empires,
must, in the future as in the past, run their
course and perish. But great actions, great
virtues and great thoughts, carnations and
attributes of the spiritual life, types of the
immortality which is 10 come, shall live
on when all the monuments that men can
contrive and fashion and build up 10 perpet-
uate remembrance Of themselves, shall, like
them, have crumbled into the primeval dust
One Of the great poets Of the Augustan era.
nearly 1900 years ago, boosted that his
works should live as long as the priest with
the silent virgin should ascend the capt.
tolium OF the millions of treasure layished