The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-06

convinced that those who had acted as he
aid had after all not been impelled by
mere wh1ms of vanity, or reckless ambi-
ton. or sinister designs, but had good and
patriotic reasons for what they did when
the heart of Massachusetts, came back to
him full of the old love and confidence, as
surfing him that he would again be her
chosen son for her representative seat in
the House of States when the laweivers
of the old Commonwealth, obeying an IT.
resistible impulse of justice, wiped away
from the records of the Legislature and
from the fair name of that State that reso-
luton Of censure which had stung him so
deeply. and when returning vigor lifted
him up and new sunburst of hope illu-
minated his lifel How thankful we all are
that he lived that one year longer
And yet, have you thought of it, if he
had died in those dark days, when so many
clouds hung over him, would not the much
vilified man have been the same Charles
Sumner, whose death but one wear later
afflicted millions of hearts with pang of
bereavement, whose praise is now on every
lip for the purity of his life, for bis fidelity
to great principles, and for the holiness of
his patriotism? Was he not year ago
the same, the same in purpose, the same
in principle, the same III character? What
had he done then that so many who praise
him to-day should have then disowned
him, See what he had done. He had
simply been true to his convictions of duty.
He had approved and urged what he
thought right he had attacked and oppos-
ed what he thought wrong. To his con-
victions of duty he had sacrificed political
associations most dear to him, the security
of his position of which he was proud. For
his convictions of duty he had stood up
against those more powerful than he; he
had exposed himself to reproach, obloquy
and persecution. Had he not done so, he
would not have been the man you praise
to-day; and yet for doing so he was cried
down but yesterday He had lived up to
the great word he spoke when he entered
the Senate: THE slave of principle, call
no party master" That declaration was
greeted with applause, and when, true to
his word, he refused to call party master
the act was covered with reproach.
The spirit impelling him to do so was
the same conscience which urged him to
break away from the powerful party which
controlled his State in the days Of Daniel
Webster, and to join a feeble minority,
which stood up for freedom to throw
away the favor and defy the power of the
wealthy and refined, in order to plead the
cause of the down-trodden and degraded ::
to stand up against the slave power in Con-
gress with courage never surpassed; 20
attack the prejudice of birth and religion,
and to plead fearlessly for the rights of
the tOreign-born citizen at time when the
know-Nothing movement was controlling
his State and might have defeated his own
reelection to the Senate; to advocate
emancipation when others trembled with
fear; to march ahead of his followers when
they were afraid to follow; to rise up alone
for what he thought right when Others
would not rise with him. 1t was that brave
spirit which does everything, defes every
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