Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-10-22
Abraham Lincoln.

The memory of this martyred
friend Of freedom and union was fifty
remembered at Springfield, Ill, on
the 18th. 1t was the occasion OF the
unveiling of his statue upon the
monument erected to his memory at
that place. Full $4,000 people gath
cred at the tomb of the honored
dead. to witness the solemn and in
teresting ceremonies. Among the
notable persons present were Presi-
dent Grant, Gen. Sherman, Vice
President Wilson, ex-Secretary Borie,
Gov. Noyes, Generals Pope, Nc
Dowell, Custar, Grierson, Robert T.
Lincoln, only surviving son of the de-
ceased President, and other relatives.
Mrs. Lincoln was unable to be pres
ent as she is quite ill at her residence
in Chicago. Gov. Oglesby delivered
the grafton. General Grant, ex-Vice-
President Colfax, Gen. Sherman, and
Vice President Wilson, in eloquent
and feeling remarks, also testified
their love and respect to the honored
dead.
We copy the remarks of President
Grant, to-wit:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND CEN
rLEMEN: On an occasion like the
present, it is the duty on my part to
bear testimony to the great and good
qualities of the patriotic man whose
earthly remains now rest beneath
this dedicated monument. 1t was
not nv fortune to make the personal
acquaintance of Mr.. Lincoln till the
beginning of the last year of the
great struggle for national existence.
During these years of doubling and
despondency among the many patri-
otic men of the country, Abraham
Lincoln never, for a moment, doubt
ed but the final result would be in ia
yor of peace, union, and freedom to
every race in this broad land. His
faith in an all-wise Providence direct
ing our arms to this final result, was
the faith of the Christian that his Re
deemer liveth. Amidst obliquy, per-
sonal abuse, and hate undisguised,
and which was given vent to without
restraint through the press, upon
stump and in private circles, he re-
manned the same staunch unyieldingI
servant of the people, never exhibit
ing revengeful feeling toward his
traducers. But he rather pitied
them, and hoped for their own sake
and the good name of their posterity
they might desist. For single mo-
ment it did not occur to him that the
man, not Lincoln, was being assailed,
but that a reasonable spirit, one
waiting to destroy the freest Govern
ment the sun ever shone on, was CIV
ing vent to itself on him as the chief
executive of the nation only because
he was such executive. As lawyer
in your midst, he would have avoided
this slander, for his life was pure
and simple one, and he no doubt |
would have been much happier man.
But who can tell what might have
been the fate of the nation but for the
pure, unselfsh, and wise administra-
ton of a Lincoln? From March,
1854, to the time when the hand of an
assassin opened a grave for Mr.. Lin
coin the President of the United |
States, my personal relations with
HIM were as close and intimate as the
nature of our respective duties would
permit. To know him personally
was to love and respect him for his
great qualities of head and heart,
and for his patience and patriotism.
With all his disappointments from
failures on the part of those to
whom he had entrusted the command,
and treachery on the part of those
who had gained his confidence but to
betray it, l never heard him utter
complaint, nor cast. censure for bad
conduct or bad faith. 1t was his ma
ture to find excuses for his adversa-
ries in his death. The nation lost
its greatest head in his death. The
South lost its most just friend.