The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-02-21
rHE REMA1Ns OF DOUGLAS.

Is hE LAANhAAANO vi OOOVA<ASa
Perhaps no State in the Unlon has been
30 much advanced IN its material pros
perity by the acts OF any one man, living
or dead, as has the State of Illinois by i
land grant for the construction of the
Illinois Central Railroad with its
branches was the work of his hands and
became the precedent for many other
larger subsidies to other States and
other enterprises. Being the first recip-
lent of SO great bounty Illinois reape d
The full benefit. Cities, towns, villages
and townships of cultivated farms
Iprang into existence in period 81
brief as to be unprecedented in the his
Sory ofthe Republic. AS the business
metropolis of the State Chicago owes of
course very much of It's advancement to
Ihe same cause.
1t would be supposed that the State
md metropolis would delight to honor
she memory of such benefactor. In a
certain way they did. For a brief peri
Od and with spasmodic intensity, Chi
Gago and Illinois arose as one man to
naugurate fitting memorial to his
memory. The political animosities of a
quarter of a century were laid aside, for
stephen A. Douglas had been man of
such pronounced opinions and decisive
party measures as to provoke the liveli-
est feelings of hostility among his party
foes. But he had-On, rare quality in
the hour when the country stands Jrem-
bling on the verge of great danger-he
had that within him and part of his
great nature, which raised him so far
above the miasmatic Yapors of party as
to make him pillar and guide for the
people to steer by to port Of safety.
The last year OF his life gave assurance
that his magnetic voice would have been
altogether heard sustaining and cheer
ing on those who were struggling to
keep together a threatened Union. 1t
would have been gratifying had this last
crisis the country has passed brought
to the surface few such statesmen
capable in the hour of danger of ignoring
the bondage of party serVitude.
Douglas remains were given, as was
supposed, their last resting place upon
the shores of Lake Michigan, in beau
tiful lot at Cottage Grove. The design
for q suitable monument was adopted
and the nation was invited to take part
in the solemn ceremonials of laying the
cornerstone. The nation responded
through its Chief Magistrate, the Cen
sral of the Army, the Cabinet, Minis
ters and very many Of the magnates Of
the nation and of the different States.
That famous "swing round the circle"
Is still in the memory Of the public, and
1t is not an altogether pleasant recol-
lection. A great deal bad rhetoric, and
worse whisky, came to the surface, and
spectacular displays by those whom the
people ought to venerate, went very far
towards obliterating what little re-
gpect the public may have felt for high
official station.
But the cornerstone for the elaborate
monument over the honored grave of
Douglas at the beautiful grounds of Cot
tage Grove was laid with fitting cere-
MONIES, and this nearly decade of
years ago. And up to this day that's
the last of it. We are now informed by
Chicago paper that the douglas mon-
ument business has been brought to the
surface again" by bill in the LegIsla-
ture to appropriate $4,000 to complete
the work. This tardy movement is,
however, opposed on various grounds,
such as: that the site is wholly inapprn-