The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-05-22

/ A4On BLob3 Il may A&NO OCCA dAo
posed to deny him. In this fer
zeal and this earnest warfare
against the wrong, as he viewed it
there entered no enduring person
al animosity to the men whose 10
it was to be born TO the system
which he denounced.
/ 1t has been the kindness of the
sympathy which in these later
years he has displayed toward the
impoverished and suffering people
of the Southern States that has
unveiled to me the generous and
tender heart which beat beneath
the bosom Of the zeaIot, and has
forced me to yield him the tribute
of my respect, 1 might even say
Eof my admiration. Nor in the
manifestation of this has there
been anything which q proud and
sensitive people, smarting under
a sense of discontinue and pres
ent suffering, might not frankly
accept or which would give them
just cause to suspect its sincerity.
For though he raised his voice as
soon as he believed the momen-
tous issues of this great military
conflict were decided, IN favor of
amnesty to the vanquished, and
though he stood forward to well
come back as brothers and to re-
establish i'll their rights as citizens
those whose valor had so nearly
riveu asunder the Union which he
loved, yet he always insisted that
the most ample protection and
the largest safe guards should be
thrown around the liberties of the
newly enfranchised African race.
Though he knew very well that of
his conquered fellow citizens of
the South by far the larger por-
ton, even those who most heartily
a0quiesced in and desired the
abolition of slavery, seriously
questioned the expediency OF in
vesting in u single day and with
out any preliminary tutelage so
east a body of inexperienced and
uninstructed men with the full
rights of freedom and voters, he
would tolerate no halfway meas
ures upon u point to him so vital.
Indeed, Immediately after the
war, while other minds were occu-
plying themselves with different
theories of reconstruction, he did
not hesitate to impress most en-
phatically upon the administra-
ton, not only in public, but in the
confidence of private intercourse,
his Incorporating resolution to
oppose to the last any and every
scheme which should fail to pro-
vide the surest guarantees for the
personal freedom and political
rights of the race which he had
undertaken to protect. Whether
his measures to secure this result
showed him to be q practical
statesman or q theoretical enthu-
siast is question on which any
decision we may pronounce to-day
must await the inevitable revision
of postcrity. The spirit of mag
Ranimity, therefore, which breathes
in his utterances and manifests it.
self in all his acts affecting the
South during the last two years
of his life, was as evidently hon
est as it was grateful to the feel
ings of those to whom it was dis
played.
1t was certainly a gracious act
toward the South-though unhap-
PLY it Jared upon the sensibilities
of the people at the other extreme
of the Union and estranged from
him the great body OF his political
friends-to propose to erase from
the banners of the national Army
the mementoes of the bloody in
ternecine struggle, which might
be regarded as assailing the pride
or wouhding the sensibilities of
the southern people. That pro
posal will never be forgotten by
that people so long as the name of
Charles Sumner lives in the mem
DRY of man. But while it touched
the heart OF the South and elicit
ed her profound gratitude, her
people would not have asked of
the North such an act of self-re-
nunciation.
Conscious that they themselves
were animated by devotion to
constitutional liberty, and that
the brightest pages of history are
replcte with evidences of the
depth and sincerity of that devo-
ton, they can but cherish the rec
objections of sacrifices endured,
the battles fought and. the victo-
ries won in defence of their hap
less cause. And respecting, as
all true and brave men must re-
spect, the marshal spirit with
which the men of the North vim
dictated the integrity of the Union
and their devotion to the prin-
ciples of human freedom, they do
not ask, they do not wish, the
North to strike the memcntoes OF
her heroism and victory from
either records or monuments OIL
battle flags. They would rather
that both sections should gathei
up the glories won by each sec,
ton, not envious, but proud o.
each other, and regard them q
common heritage of American
valor.
Let us hope that future genera
tions, when they remember tho
deeds of heroism and devotion
done on both sides, will speak no
of northern prowess or southern
courage, but of the herolsm, forti
tude, and courage of American
r in q war of ideaS-a war in whicl
each section signalized its conse
Grafton to the principles, as eacl
understood them, of American
liberty and of the Constitution re
ceived from their fathers.
4 1t was my misfortune, perhap
: my fault, personally, never to hav
e known this eminent philanthropis
e and statesman. The impulse wa
t often strong upon me to go t
n him and offer him my hand an
Il my heart with it, and to expires
l. to him my thanks for his kind an
It considerate course toward the pet
Y pie with whom / am identified.
g / did not yield TO that impulse
e was because the thought occurre
o that other days were coming
T. which such n demonstration migl
'e be more opportune and less lab
is to misconstructioH. Suddenl
8 and without premontion, a day ha
at come at last to which, for such
ID purpose, there is no tomorrow.
al My regret is therefore intens
a. fed by the thought that fail
ut to speak to him out of the fullne
er of my heart while there was y
OF time.
" How often is it that death tn