Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-09-21

|of President Lincoln, crowd of manyl
thousand people gathered IN and around
the Wall Street Exchange, at New York.
Ito give expression to their sentiments!
Speeches were made by Gen. Benjamin r.
Butler and Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson,
which worked the crowd into a frenzy.
Two men lay bleeding on one side
of the street, the one dead, the
other next to dying; one on the pavement,l
the other in the gutter. They had said a.
moment before Lincoln ought to haye|
been shot long agor They. were mott
allowed to say it again Soon two longl
pieces of scantling stood out above thel
heads of the crowd, crossed at the top LIKE
THE letter K, and large halter pendant
from the junction, dozen men following
! its slow motion through the masses of
Is 600 or 10000, while Vengeance!' wasI
the cry on any and all opposed TO the war.
It was a critical moment. What might
have happened at the hands Of that crowd
in the excitement of the hour no one could
foretel. Police and military would
have availed little. a tele-I
gram had just been received FROM
Washington, Seward is dying" JUST
at that juncture a man stepped forward
with mall flag in his hand and beckoned|
to the crowd" another telegram from|
Washington ~ and then. in the awful still
ness of the crisis, taking advantage of the|
crowd, whose steps had been arrested a
moment, right arm was lifted skyward,
and voice. clear and steady, loud and
distinct, spake out: Fellow citizens ::
Clouds and darkness are round about Him!
His pavilion is dark waters and thick
clouds of the skies! Justice and judgment
are the establishment of His throne +!
Mercy and truth shall go before His face !
Fellow. citizens, God reigns and the gov
ernment at Washington still lives u
The effect was tremendous. The
gazing at the motionlese orator, and think
ing of God and the security Of the govern
ment in that hour. As the boiling wave
Subsidies and settles to the sea when some
strong wind beats it down, so the tumult
of the people sank and became still. AL
umph of eloquence, inspired by the mo.
ment, such as falls to but one mans lot
and that but one in century. The genius
of Webster, Choate, Everett, Seward
never reached it, Demosthenes never
equalled it, What might have happened
had the surging and maddened mob been
let loose, none can tell. The man for the
crisis was on the spot, more potent thar
Napoleon's guns at Paris. ? ..-s
Some one inquired what was his name
The answer came in a low whisker, ct il
General Garfield. of Ohiop -ut "
This incident shows something of hi!
remarkable power over men. The seeth
ing, maddened mob seemed 10 regard hi
words in the light of divine revelation
Who will speak the word that will quiet til,
indignation aroused by his cowardly as
fascination?
Nothing better illustrate the great. un
derlying principles which governed hin
in his political life more forcibly, perhaps
than his own words, uttered in the Ohit
Senate chamber just after his election t
the United States Senate. He said: 8
during the twenty years that hav'
been in public life (almost eighteen of it il
the Congress of the United States) l hav,
tried to do one thing Whether was mis-
taken or otherwise. it has been the plan O
my life to follow my convictions. at what
ever personal cost. have repre- sented fo
many years q district in Congress, Who's
depreciation greatly desired, but, though
it may seem little egotistical to say il,
yet desired still more the appropriations o
one person and his name was Garfield. II,
is the only man that am compelled t.
sleep with, and eat with, and live with, ant
die with, and, if could not have his ap
probation, / should have bad companion
ship"
But We have extended this sketch
ALREADY farther than we should have done
with the limited space at our command. /
is subject upon which we could Just a.
easily say ten times more than we have
The trouble is. with so much crowding up
on us that might be sail. and that we would
like to say, it is difficult to decide what te
leave unsaid. Upon subject SO gre at, will
so much to inspire love, devotion. admira
tion, confidence and esteem and mani,
sympathy, we might write columns, pages
and volumes. and still the theme would
not be exhausted - Aa. II