The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-09-04

guns were fired during the day, flags
were displayed at half staff, and Wash
ington was crowded with strangers at an
early hour. The buildings on either side
of Pennsylvania Avenue, with scarcely
an exception, and many houses on the
contiguous streets, were hung with fes-
ICONS and streamers of black. Almost
every private dwelling had Grape upon
its door, and many of the very humblest
abodes displayed some spontaneous sig
nal of the general sorrow. The stores
and places of business, even such as were
too frequently seen open on the Sabbath,
were all closed.
The funeral services were performed
in the Executive mansion, which, for the
first time. was shrouded in mourning,
without and within. The coffin rested
on a temporary catafalque in the center
of the East Room, which had before
been the scene Of joyous ceremonials.-
1t was covered with black velvet trim
med with gold lace, and over it was
thrown velvet pail with deep golden
fringe. On this lay the sword of justice
und the sword of state, surmounted by
the scroll of the Constitution, bound to-
gether by Il funeral wreath formed of the
yew and the cypress. Around the coffin
stood in 4 circle the new President, john
Tyler the venerable ex-President, John
Quincy Adams, Secretary Webster and
the other members of the cabinet. The
next circle contained the diplomatic
corps, in their richly decorated court
suits, with a number of members of both
Houses of Congress, and the relatives of
the deceased President. Beyond this
circle a vast assemblage of ladies and
gentlemen filled up the room. Silence,
deep and undisturbed even by whisper,
prevailed. When, at the appointed hour,
the officiating clergyman said 81 am the
resurrection and the life, the entire au-
dience rose, and joined in the burial ser
vice of the Episcopal Church.
After the services. the coffin was car
ried to large funeral car drawn by six
white horses, each having at its head a
black groom dressed in white, with white
turban and sash. Outside of the grooms
walked the pail bearers, dressed in black,
with black scarves. The contrast made
by this slowly moving body of white and
black, SO opposite to the strong colors of
the military around 1t, struck the eye
even from the greatest distance.
The funeral procession, with its mill
tary escort, was two miles in length, and
eclipsed the Inauguration pageant which
had so recently preceded it. The re-
mains were escorted to the Congressional
Burying Ground, where they were tenn
porarily deposited in the receiving vault
to be taken subsequently to the banks of
the Ohio, and there placed in an unmark-
ed and neglected grave. The troops
present all fired three volleys in such a
ludicrously struggling manner rs to re-
call the dying request of Robert Burns
that the awkward squad might not fire
over his grave. Then the drums and
flies struck up merry strains, the military
marched away, and only the sense of the
public bereavement remained.
Vice President John Tyler, unexpcct-
eddy summoned from his rural home in
Virginia to assume the reins of govern
ment, issued an address to the citizens
of the United States indicative of that
iirmness of purpose and uncompromising
integrity of principle for which he had
been conspicuous throughout his public
life. For the first time since the Federal
Government had existed under the Con-
stitution, the Vice President, wittily
styled his unpopular excellency,' had
been promoted to the highest position in
the nation.