Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-09-11
The Douglas Monument.

The laying of the corner stone of the mon
ument to the memnry OF STEPHEN A. DOUG
LAS, at Chicago, was an imposing affair, and
was largely attended. Alter the conclusion
of the Masonic ceremonies incident to the oc-
casion. Mayor Rice introduced the orator of
the day, Major General John a. Dix. The
speech of the General concluded as follows:
The name of him whose memory YOU are
honoring, will be as imperishable as the his
tory of the State in whose service he lived
and died Borne on its annals as one who
was Unidentified with its progress and improve
ment, who illustrated the policy aud the So
ciai spirit OF the great west, WHO gained
strength aud influence from It's support and
confluence. anu who siorled in It's energy and
its uuconquerabie enterprise He vii, be
remembered above ali tor those heroic words.
the last he ever uttered, worthy to be craven
on stone and treasured to The end OF time
In all:patriotIc hearts, words which come
to US as we stand around his grave with a
soIcmnlty and pathos which no language
can express. When his wife bent over him
as his spirit was departing, and asked him
IL he had anything to say to his children
! forgetting himself, his. domestic ties. every.
thing precious In life, from which he was
about to be severed, thinking only of his
! country, rent by civil strife, and overshadowed
by imPenetrabIe darkness. he replied. ..teIl
them TO obey the laws, aud supper; the Con
stIIutiOn OF the Unlon.
After the delivery of the grafton. which
was listened to with much attention President
johnson was introduced, and spoke as follows:
Fellow citizens:-l have Travelled over
eleven hundred miles, after having been
invited to attend the ceremony of having the
cornerstone Of the monument 10 be erected
will say to my friends, personal aud political.
In accepting the Invitation to be present on
this occasion, it was tor the purpose of bearing
testimony OF my high respect for II man who
! persisted in the public service, aud one whom
l respected aud loved
have no eulogy to pronounce That has
been done better than / could do it. and t.
will be handed down and placed in the DOS
session OF all who took an interestin the history
and character of the distinguished individual
who is now no more. Some men NAV wear
the CIVIC wreath which the nation weaves for
those who served their country in lofty
positions, or they may be graced with laurels.
perhaps, for those who defend her IN the hour
of peril and their names may be engraved
upon the imperishable records of national
glory.
This column is reared in memory of the
legislator and the representative man. A
consciousness OF duty performed was his
remuneration while living, and his reward
will be the inscription of his name high on
the cenotaph erected by grateful nation to
commemorate the services of those who lived
and tOlled for the people and the Union of
the States. Fellow citizens, believe in NV
heart that if we could communicate with tho
dead, aud cause them to know what was
transPiring on earth, were it possible for
stephen A. Douglas 10 be disturbed in his
slumbeT, he would rise from his grave and
shake OF the habIlments of tile tomb and
proclaim the Constitution and the Union
they must be preserved (Great applause
Secretl eward then came forward in re-
Spouse to repeated calls and said:-Iike the
President, not here to make a speech.
less than GU any other occasion could | con.
sent to speak without consideration; it woDIl
be dlsrespect to the great dead to offer a
hurried and needless trlbu'e to the greatness
ana tame OF Stephen n. Douglass. You have
Just heard, as the world knows. that Stephen
a douglass was Concerned many Years in the
great affairs OF the nation at the Capitol.
You are not ignorant that have been con
cerned in the same way For the last eleven
years OF his life L was AN associate in the Sen
ate with Stephen A Douglass During the
last SIX months OF that period | was a fellow
laporer on the same side, III supporting the
same great cause, and say that cause was
the Union against the Rebellion. All the
previous portions of that time we were in a
party sense adversaries.
lt is amongst the prnudest of nv personal
recoIlectlons that, although We were enemies
as the world understands IT, political men ar
rayed against each other by partisan combina
tfons for ten years, and were political friends
and associates only for six months, vet not,
understanding the widow and the children. the
kindred, The friends, aud the party of Steuhen
Douglas, paid ME the extraordinary com
pliment OF asking me to be the orator on the
occasion TOR which we have assembled
1t proved this, namely, that Stephen A
Douglass was great and generous man.
Had he not been, he would not have gone
through ten years OF opposition to me without
leaving IN my heart pan. or wound 1t proved
that knew all the while that he was patriot
and that he thought one also
When they, broken down with grief for his
loss, struck down as he was on the ramparts
OF his country's defence, came to me and beg
ged to commit to me the care of his great
name and memory, was unable to accept
the precious trust. L am glad now that de-
clined, because rejoice that the task of his
eulogist has been performed by one who,
throughout his whole life, was united to him
in the bonds of political as we'll as personal
friendship.
Recent dispatches by the Atlantic cable,
I Al =.