The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1874-05-01

| hope that future ccncrauOns, when
they remember the deeds Of hcroism
and devotion done on both sides, will
speak not Of Northern powers or of
toutherp courage, but of the heroism,
the fortitudc and the courage of Amer
leans in aiwar of ideas--a war in which
each section sigualiscd its consscration
to principles az each understood them,
to American liberty and to the consti.
tuition received from their fathers. q
IT was my misfortune, perhaps my
fault, personally to never have known
this eminent philanthropist and states
man. The impulse was often strong
upon me to go to him and offer him
my hand and my heart with il, and to
express to him my thanks for his kind
and considerate course towards the
people with whom am identified. II
did not yield to that impulse, IL was
because the thought occurred to me
that other days were coming in which
such demonstration might be appro.
pirate and less liable to misconstruc.
ton. Suddenly and without premoni.
ton day has come at last to which
there is no to morrow. NY regret is
therefore intensified by the thought
that failed to speak to him out of the
fullness of my heart while there was
yet time. How often is it that death
brings unavailingly back to our remcm-
brance opportunities unimproved, in
which the generous overtures prompted
by the heart remain unoffered, the
frank avowals which rise to the lips
remain unspoken, and the injustice and
wrong with which concience reproach-
cd us remain unrepaired. Charles
Sumner in life believed that all occa-
sion Tor strife and distrust between the
North and South had passed away, and
there no longer remained any cause for
continued arrangement between these
two sections Of our common country.
Are there not many of us who be-
lievc the same thing? Is not that the
common sentiment, or if not ought it
not to be, Of the great mass of our peo-
pie North and South? Bound to each
other by a common constitution, des.
tined to live together under common
Government, forming unitedly but q
single member of the great family
of nations shall we now at last endeavor
to greet each other once more in heart,
as we are already indissolubly linked to
each other in fortunes? Shall we not,
whilst honoring the memory of this
great champion of human liberty, this
feeling sympathizer with human sorrow
this earnest pleader for the exercise of
human tenderness and heavenly CHAIR.
ty, lay aside the concealments which
serve only to perpetuate misunder-
standings aud dstrust, and frankly
confess that on both sides we most ear
nestly desired to be one, one not mere.
ly in political organization, one moi
merely in identity of constitution, one
not merely in community of language
and literature and tradition and coun
try, but more and better than all that
one also in feeling and in heart? An
l mistaken in this? Do the conceal
ments Of which l speak still cover ami
mosities which neither time nor marcel
of events has yet sufficed to subdue?
, cannot believe it. Since have beer
, here l have scrutinixed your senti
J ments, as expressed not merely in pub
lie debate, but in the abandon of per
sonal confidence. l know we'll thu
sentiments of my Southern friends
whose hearts arc SO embodied that TIT
feeling of each is the feeling of all
and ! see on both sides only seeming
, of constraint which each appearentl!
| hesitates to dismiss. The South, pros
+ tratc, exhausted drained of her lii'
, blood as we'll as of material resources
= still honorable and true, accepts th
award Of bloody arbitrament withou
reservation, resolutely determined Il
abide the result with chivalrous tideli
ty. Yet if as struck dumb by the mag
! nitude of her roverses, she suffers Oh
2 in cilcncc, The North, exultant in he
, triumph and elated by successes, still
= chcrishes, as we are assured, hear
C full of maenanimous emotions towar
. her disarmcd, discounted antagonists
$ and yet, as if under some mysteriou
Y spell, her words and acts are words an
. acts of suspicion and distrust. Woul
t that the spirit of the illustrious dea
= whom we lament to-day could speal
c from the grave to both parties to thi
/ deplorablc discord, in tones whicl
y should reach each and every bear
I. throughout this broad territory. NJ
>. countrymen, know one another, and 20