The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-09-08


tions or valuable services, have become dear
to us, and, by the will Of God, have been sep
arated from us forever. There are thousands
within the reach of my voice who have been
made painfully conscious of this instinct by
the bereavements which the unhappy domes-
tic conflict just ended has visited upon them.
When the burden of grief lies heavy on the
heart, it is the first impulse Of our nature to
prolong the remembrance, to grave into the
solid stone which shall endure when we have
persisted, some appropriate thought, or it may
be the simple names, of those We have loved
and lost
Kindred to these tributes of affection is the
debt of gratitude, which whole community,
represented here in countless numbers, has as
sembled to discharge by the erection of a
monument, suited in its proportions to the
great qualities Of him whom it is to commem-
orate-to lay the foundation Of the structure
which is to be piled up, stone upon stone,
| from the earth beneath our feet into the sky
above us, and thus to symbolic the eminence
to which he rose by his genius and his trans
cendant public services. above the plane of
elevation, where the great mass of his cotem-
poraries stood and toiled and struggled in the
hard battle of life
The speaker then dwelt upon the first az
| pearance of the distinguisheddead in Illinois,
upon the polished arena in the Senate, and
his prominence during the great campaign in
1855 and thus concluded;
| He will be remembered above all for those
heroic words, the last he ever uttered, worthy
to be engraven 90 stone and treasured to the
end of time in all patriotic hearts-words,
which come to us, as We stand around his
grave, with solemnlty and pathos which
40 language can express. When his wife
bent over him as his spirit was departing, and
asked him if he had anything to say to his
children; forgetting himself his domestic ties,
everything precious in life, from which he was
about to be severed; thinking only of his
country rent by civil strife and overshadowed
by impenetrable darkness, he replied; "Tell
them to obey the laws, and support the Con-
stitution ofthe Union"
The orator was repeatedly interrupted by
applause, and wfen he concluded the Presi-
dent of the United States was called for He
appeared at the front of the pla form and de-
livered the following brief address,
speech of the President
Fellow Citizens | lave Travelled over / 100
miles after having been invited to attend the
ceremony of laying the corner stone Of the
monument to be erected, l will say to my
friend, personally and politically: and in &C
cepting the invitation to be present on this
occasion, it was for the purpose of bearing
testimony of my high respect for a man who
persisted in the public service and one whom
| respected and loved. Loud cheers. |
have no eulogy to pronounce. Tha: has been
done better than | could do it, and it will be
handed down and placed in the possession Of
all who took an interest in the history and
character of the distinguished individual who
is now no more. Applause. Some men
may wear the civic wreath which the nation
weaves for those who serve their country in
lofty positions or they may be graced with
laurels prepared for those who defend her in
the hour OF peril and their names may be en-
graved upon the impershable records of Ma.
tional glory. This column is reared in mem
Dry 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 created by grateful
nation, to commemorate the services of those
VINO lived and toiled for the people and the
Union of the States Immense applause !
Fellow-Citizens, believe in my heart that il
we could communicate with the dead and
cause them to know what was Transporting on
earth-were it possible for Stephen A. Doug
las to be disturbed from his slumber he would
rise from his grave, shake off the habiliments
CT the tomb, and proclaim :The Constitution
and the Union, they must be preserved 3! y
lGreat applause