Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-05-06
Chr freeman
MONTPELIER, VT,
"WEDNESDAY, NAY 6, 1874.
Charles Sumner.

~-lIfiT/. HC vi sttiOli was lOliS- tNO
hours and half for its delivery. Music
Hall was filled. and the great audience
was delighted by the eloquent tribute to
r'.4 dead friend of the orator.
When the news went forth, " Charles
Sumner is dead n tremor of strange emo
ton was felt all over the land. 1t was rs if
a n11onificcnt star, a star unlike all others,
which the living generation had been wont
p, behold fixed and immOvable above their
heads. had all Mt once disappeared from
the -kv. and the people stared into the
Great void darkened by the sud len absence
4c the familiar light. On the 10th of
March. "A funeral procession passed through
the streets ofBoSton. Uncounted thousands
ofmcn. women and children had assembled
rn see it pass No uncommon pageant
had attracted them; no military parade,
with ulitterin@ uniforms and gay banners:
no pompous array of dignitarieS in official
robes; nothing but carriages and hearse
with a coffin, and in it the corpse of Charles
Sumner. But there they stOod-a multitude
unreasonable to the eye, rich and poor
white and black, old and yOung-in grave
and dmournful silence, to bid last farewell
to him who was being borne TO MS grave
And every breeze from every point OF Inc
came lOstttu W llll u VI -Ni N''
Indeed. there WAS not Il city or town IN
this GREAT republic which would not have
surrounded that funeral procession with
the same spectacle of Il profound and uni
yrr,al sense of GREAT bereavement. Was
If love: WIS it gratitude for the services
rendered to the people; was 1t the baff1ed
,.ypectation of greater services still to
come: was it admiration of his talents or
his virtues that inspired so general an emo
rion of sorrow? lie had stood aloOf from
rhr multitude: the friendship of his heart
had been oiven to but few; to the many
ur had appeared distant, selt-sallsiled and
cold. His public life had been full of bit
t.rconficts. No man had aroused against
himself tiercer animosltles. Although
warmly recognized by many, the public
services of no man had been more acrlmo-
uiol,Iv questioned bv opponents. No
>tate-man's motives, qualities of heart and
mind, wisdom and character, except his
integrity, had been the subject of more
heated controversy; and yet, when sudden
death snatched him from Us, friend and
fl,. bowed their heads alike. Every patri-
u.ic citizen felt poorer than the day before.
Every true American heart trembled with
the apprehension that the republic had
lost something that it could i'll spare.
Even from far distant lands, across the
ocean voices came, mingling their SYM
na,hetic Grief with our own. When YOU,
Mr. MayOr. in the name of the City Gov
t.!nmcnt of Boston, invited me to interpret
that which millions think and feel, thanked
Won fOr the proud privilege You had con
Grred upon me, and the invitation appealed
% irresistiblv to nv friendship for the man
we had lost that | could not decline it.
And vet, the thought struck me that you
I,t ,,.ot,.,VnI greater tTIHm1ll In
his memory had YOU summoned, not me.
his friend. but one of those who had stood
AGAINST him in the struggles of his life, to
bear testimony to Charles Summers viz
tues There are many among them to-day,
TO whose sense of Justice YOU might have
safely confided the office, which to me is Il
task of love Here | see his friends around
me. the friends of his youth, of his man
hood. of his advancing age; among them,
men whose illustriOus names are house
hold words, rs far as the English tongue is
spoken. and fur beyond. | saw them stand
mo round his open grave, when 1t received
tLe fower-decked coffin, mute sadness
heavily cIouding their brOws. | under
stood their Grief, for nobody could share il
more than l. In such Il presence the
temptation is great to seek that consolation
torour loss which bereaved friendship finds
I'm the cXnltation of its bereavement. But
not to YOU or me belonged this man while
he lived: not to You or me belongs his
memory now that he Is gone. His deeds
lis example and his fame, he left rs 4 lega-
cv to the American people and 10 mankind;
and it is nv office to speak of this inheri-
t.uce. cannot speak of it without affec-
tiou. I shall endeavOr to do it with jus
tcc. Among the public characters o
America Charles Sumner stands peculiar
and unique His senatorial career is (;
conspicuous part of our political history
But in order to appreciate the man III the
career we must look ut the story of his life
The American people take pride in say
mo that almost all their great histOri,
characters were self-made men, who. with
ont the advantages of wealth and earl,
opportunities. won the education, raise.
themselves to usefu ness and distinction
\ lor cabin: Il ragged little boy, walkin.
harelooted to lowly country school-hOuse
or sometimes no school-house 1t all Il lad
ancra DAYS hard toll on the farm, or il
the workshop. poring greedily, sometime
-tcathlv, over Il volume of poetry, or his
torv or travels: Il forlOrn looking youth
with elbows out, applying Mt a lawyer
office for IN opportunity to study then The
young man II successful practitioner 1T
trlctng the notice of his neighbors; ther
q member of the State Legislature a re
preventative in Congress, u Senator, may
hc Cabinet Minister, or even President
such are the pictures presented by many
proud American biography. And it i
natural that the American people shOulC
heproud of it, for such a biography con
dcn>cS in the compass of a single life tn
treat story of the American nation, II
from the feebleness and misery of earl
IN, +b., I1o,ly
ed t. the subiugation of the hostile force
Of nature: plunged into an arduous strug
gie with dangers and difficulties onl
known to itself, gathering strength from
every conflict and experience from ever
tlal. until ut last it stands there Us one O
the greatest powers of the earth. But no
such life was that of Charles Sumner
MIR. ScAurz sketched the college cours,
oi Sumner at Harvard, his early work il
'l't Law shool, his European travel, anC
the circumstances under which he deliver
eI the Grafton on the - True Grandeur O
Nations. which was his real appearance,
before the public.
ne mad also learned to work, to worl
i"' 'ld with purpose, and at thirty
our Wilen he first appeared conspicuousl,
ioIe ule people, he could already poin
10 many results of his labor Such wa
'iie man. when, in the exuberant vigor O
manhood he entered public life Unit
iI't time he had entertained no aspiration
Ioi political career. When discussin.
WIN friend of his youth-now a man O
l'Ihe-What the future might have in stor
lpr them, ne said: - You may be IA Senate
oi the United States. some day: but moth
Ing would make me happier than to b
PRESIDENT Of Harvard College" And il
Ilter years he publicly declared :. Wit
ule ample opportunities of private life
was content. No tombstone for me conl,