Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-10-05

memory of the late President Lincoln,
in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, was
unveiled on the 23rd inst, in the pres
ence of one hundred thousand people
The memorial is beautiful and eloquent
expression of the reverence and affection,
which the inhabitants of the Quaker City
cherish for the character and name of the
departed statesman. Col. William Nc
Michael was the speaker of the occasion.
and discharged the duty in the following
strain of genuine oratory: .,...
In your presence, fellow citizens, who
loved him, on this chosen spot, in the
chosen city where the nation was born in
whose cause-he died, and in the sight of
heaven, whittier his spirit has assembled,
we unveil this statue of the greatest man
of our time We have lived in an era
fruitful in historic events and marked by
the achievements of master minds. In
Europe pregnant peace has given issue to
decisive war, resolution been developed
into action, and preparation consumated
in victorious battle; States have arisen
and dynasties been overthrown; while
in our own country free government has
been subjected to the severest test and ac-
complished its largest triumph. We,
who have known the direst miseries of
war, are happy this day in the enjoyment
of peace made glorious in the preserva-
tion of our honor and the perpetuity of
our government. The prominent actors
in these momentous dramas have been
large-minded and far-seeing men, whose
influence has been potent in directing the
course of public action. Ten years have
passed, the most eventful in the nations
history, since some of us who are now
present gathered about old Independence
Hall one early winter morning-February
p, 1S61-to welcome the then President
elect of the United States. His manly
voice spoke to us resolute words of patri-
otism. We saw intelligence and good
ness in his face, and strength in his stall
wart frame; we looked into his honest
eye and we believe in him; and when,
grasping the halyards with his own hands,
he raised the national colors from our
midst until they fioated proudly in the
sunlight from the old belfry top, we made
the welkin ring with our cheers, glad and
proud and trustful of the man to whom
the honor and integrity of those colors
had been confded. He went from among
us with our blessings and our prayers,
and not long afterward, when he took the
solemn oath as President to defend the
constitution and the laws, all the loyal
people said amen; but not all the people,
for curses mingled with those benedictions.
Every effort had been made to assuage
tne South As well stop the tide with a
straw. Our patience was mistaken. for
irresoiution. our tenderness for fear
There's wall of bayonets along the bor-
der, legions swarm around the capital.
squadrons are on the rivers, fleets on the
sea; and still they come from book, from
plough, from loom; and still there sounds
from the home of toll and house of prayer,
wherever men gather, in town, on hill, in
valley, the swelling chorus of prophetic
triumph, "We are coming, Father Abra-
ham, five hundred thousand moro" -
What need to tell the story of sorrow and
of battle that followed save to recall how,
through all the changing fortunes of the
strife. President Lincoln was unfinching-
ly true to the cause. Again we gathered
about old Independence Hall. How
changed the scene since first we welcomed
him whose form lay shrouded within its
sacred walls. The gloom of the grave
had fallen there. The nations cradle
Mas now its martyrs bier. We have
come together to-day to dedicate monu-
ment to this great, good man. great in his
goodness, good in his greatness. An hon.
est man-not merely in the sense of Pc
cuniary correctness-no mean praise now
but honest also in that high integrity
which places principle before policy,
champions the cause of truth in the face
of prejudice, and defends the right for its
own saEe, unswerved by patronage, un-
bribed by place. He belonged to the
order of Gods nobility. Born in cot
tage, he rose to the Presidency; but in
poverty he never cringed to the great, in
power he never forgot the humble. And
when the wounds of the discordant past
are forgotten in the happiness of long con-
tinued amity and love, when prosperity
has relieved the country's burdens, and
the ripe fruits of our struggle are seen in
the strength and unity of the future, may
the whole nation ever recall with graft
tude the services of Abraham Lincoln
and still renew his noble resolve. ''That
the government of the people, by the peo
pie and for the people. shall not perish
from the EARTH"
Savings fer Old Age.