National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-09
MOUNT PLEASANT AFFAIRS.
HOW THE DEATH OF CHARLES SUM.
NER WAS REGARDED.

GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE IN CHURCHES
AND SCHoOL-HOUSEs-ABST OF THE
EULoGIES PRONOUNCED - LESSON OF
SUMMERS BUSY LIFE.
When Mr.. Sumner died so sudden and ter
rfble was the shock and so great was felt the
national loss that the masses all over the eoun-
try gathered in churches, halls, school houses
and everywhere they could be assembled, to
give q warm and spontaneous expression of
their sorrow. Lips were eloquent a. never be-
fore, and thousands who spoke his praise, from
the most learned orators to the less dis
tinguished eulogsts, all laid their richest offer
ings of their tenderist love upon the altar OF
the distinguished dead. But being offered with
such spontaneity and haste, there was natu-
rally extravaganza upon some sides of bis char
acter and work, while other shades OF his life
and works were left undisturbed amid the
grandeur and depth Of the subject before them.
It Is only when bis loving form is forever hid
den from our sight that in the patient and
faithful study of his eminent services, his pure
life and marvellous achievements, his truest
and grandest eulogy will be pronounced.
And as we rather pride ourselves in Mount
Pleasant of never doing anything in an in
different or halfway manner, the best culture
of our society was largely represented in an
attentive audience on Saturday evening tc
listen to addresses, specially and carefully pre-
pared for the occasion, on Mr.. Sumner.
Hon. ]. W. Buker first addressed the meet
ing. He spoke of the great loss of one IL
whose memory we were assembled. He sale
that in his origin Charles Sumner was an ex
ception to the prevailing idea of American pro
gressiVe youth. A large majority of men whc
have moulded the destiny of the republic were
born in the humble walks of life. He enjoyed
advantages of education which were rare a
that period. He had few, if any, of the prac
tical questions of life with which to deal
Educated for legal profession, be was enabled
to crafty a predominant taste for the classics
in which he became one of the most accom-
plished scholars in America. Endowed witt
intellectual gifts of high order, he was drawn
to the companionship of the best minds of cul
tured New England.
He drew his religious inspiration from Chan
ming; his principles of constitutional law from
Jay; adopted for his model the great jurist
Story, whose protegs and companion he was,
who placed SO high an estimate upon his legal
abilities that he named him as the future head
of the American bar, predicting for him place
on the Supreme bench; and we are told that
"the hand of jackson, with its offices and its
honors, sought him early in life," but he
shrank from them with his instructive modssty
Scholar, jurist and orator, he cast the weight
of his transcendent abilities on the side of that
had 70 rryht
alas was almost afraid to know itself, was
seeking utterance in suppressed accents
through the little band who assembled in the
attic story of that Boston printing office. Like
William, Of Orange, who, reared at the foot Of
the loftiest throne of Europe, the companion
and favorite of the great Emperor, Charles the
Fifth, dashed in the face of Philip the Second
the proffered luxury of the Castilian court
and sacrificing the colossal fortune of the House
of Nassau, the wealthiest house in Germany
threw himself in the breech of his country't
struggle against the oppression of the most in,
famous crown Of history, Sumner rejected the
creed of the so-called 'trespectability of Bos-
ton.
Happy in fortune, genius, and position, he
consecrated all to the service of freedom, and
became the early champion of q race hopeless,
ly oppressed by the laws of his country, and
impiously believed to be marked with the seal
of the disapprobstion of the living God.
William the Silent gave to mankind an eighty
years war for civil and religious liberty, plant
ing the seed so deep that it cropped out at
Plymouth Rock, and sprang to stately growth in
the forests of the new world.
Sumner led in the war for emancipation
when the battle was hottest, uprooting e sys-
tenn of inhuman oppression made respectable
by the intelligence of two centuries of service
and writing freedom upon every page of the
Constitution of his country, and enabled us to
stand forth in reality, as in name, "The land
of the free and the home of the brave"
When he entered the Senate, Mr.. Fillmore
was in the Presidential chair, and every depart
ment of the Government in the hands of the
slave-power; while there was not q single Rep
resentative of this Republic upon the face OF
the earth who was not an apologist for slavery
He then spoke of Mr.. Webster's great speech
indorsing the fugitive slave bill, the outraged
sentiment of the North, when Mr.. Sumner was
elected to the Senate, while that Congress pre-
u
The opposition to slavery was marshalled by
Mr.. Seward, followed by Mr.. Chase, and Ben
Wade, supported by the eloquence of John P,
Hale, reinforced a little later by William Pitt
Fessenden.
Mr.. Buker's review of his successive labors
and works, following step by step the progress
of the cause which he defended, was replete
with eloquent and brilliant passages and closed
with these words: The shafts that rises to
Charles Sumner rests upon the foundation OF
thirty-seven States and attestSthe devotion Of
two races of men. The old tradition have been
swept away, and now Phocian is the Greek
and Brutus is the Roman; Hampden and
Rogers speak for England, and Lafayette for
France, while the life of the great Massachu-
sets liberator is the stateliest monument our
country raises to American civilization.
Mr.. Cobb followed Mr.. Buker in a very
learned and eloquent tribute to Mr.. Sumner
give below. 49,
Mr.. Cobb's address contained many of the
finest and most impressive illustrations from
history, weaving them into his eulogy with con-
siderable skill, which produced very telling
effect. His review of the subject of slavery In
all ages, and the great struggles for freedom
was alike interesting and instructive.
In speaking of the political speeches of Mr.
Sumner, he said:
''We find the same unbending resolution and
finish in all his utterances which are as CLASH
cal as the classics, as perfect as such produc
lions could well be. Without single misquo
tation or aperiod that's not gracefully rounded
His historical references are exact, as he al
ways scorned to twist or distort the past to suit
his views or his arguments. This we know tt
be too common practice in Congress.
He leaned in his religious faith toward thu
Unitarian church, but he was not regular at
tendant at Gods house. Whenever distIn
guished divine filled the pulpit he was there t.
listen with becoming attention. But to expec
man Of his attachments to listen TO the ordi
nary humdrum of the pulpit would be askin!
far too much. His friends who were intimati
were few, but those he tried, he grappled then
with hooks of steel.
Mr.. Cobb closed with the following touchin!
remarks: Never again shall he stand in bat
tie for what he deemed was right. The poe
may sing his praise; the artist may produce hi
counterfeit presentment in some stone or oil
His work, efhope, was finished. Perhaps h