The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-07-06

nor OF the Commonwealth had spoken iol
you; though reverend men OF God bad In
terpreted your emotions 10 all your solemn
assemblies, this would not suffice; and yor
are here yourselves tonight, though hastily
summoned, to speak directly for yourselye:
and thus give relief to the pent-up feeling
which demands the fullest expression whict
people, at once indignant and sorrowing
can give.
Alb, yes sadly do remember The memo
rabe day to which his Honor Mayor Kelley
has referred, when we met In this very place
10 commemorate what was called "tht
Capitol disaster" That was a day OF gloom
and anguish day Of tears, Of bleeding
broken hearts.
But that calamity affected a community
only. The one which absorbs us tonight
touches the heart Of the world. [Applause..
In my frequent visits to Europe, on my
return voyages / naturally make compln'
ions between my own country and those
have Just been studying. AT each return
am flied with new admiration for the land
OF my nativity and love. These heavens dc
not bend over any land so favored by natu'
raj advantages, 50 enriched by material re-
sources, as ours. These quiet stars do mol
look down upon any continent with such
possibilities as ours; and yet, with all my
fond hopes and glowing anticipations Of the
splendid future in store for Us, am inya
riably depressed with one apprehension
that all these physicil advantages, all these
prospects OF prosperity and glory, may
be iIlusive, because OF the failure
of our experiment Of seli.gOvernment, be-
cause republican institutions may be unable
10 bear the strain TO which they are sub
jected by the fanaticism OF factions unre.
strained by constitutional limits and utterly
contemptuous Of the authority Of law.
Parties may be essential 10 the heathiul
life of republican institutions, but blind, un.
reasoning factions. incapable OF reason, ami
mated only by prejudice and hate, these
are the forms so full OF menace to cOnstitu-
tional liberty which now confront Us.
Insanity isan awful visitation even when
il maddens single mind. But whole com
munities sometimes become insane. Fanati-
cisms have often become national epldem-
les, and when faction, at once malignant
and insane, begins to work in the body
polite it Is like one of the hateful maladies
which sometimes iniest the physical frame
it fevers and pOlutes the whole structure
until it at last breaks out in some incurabe
ulcer, premonitory Of death.
Such is faction, whose motto never is
" principles, not men," nor "principles
and men," but men without principles
loyal not TO law or duty. but to money, tO
place, to ambition, to power. [Applause.
That was a noble sentiment OF Edmund
Burke when he declared that all just politi-
cal principles were the principles OF mo-
rality practically applied. Do not our
hearts go with him when we hear him say,
" Neither do / now, nor will / ever, admit
ANYTHING else to be true"? [AppEuse.]
FeIIow-citzens, | would impress this
truth upon you: "That which is morally
wrong can never be politically right"
[Appau>e.]
A Guite0u may say: 81 slay a President
to secure the unity OF a party" A united
party is necessary to factional triumph.
But Guiteau had a predecessor. Milton. in
his picture Of Satan, tells Us OF speech he
made, and he adds
$50 spake the fend, and with necessity,
The tyrant'5 plea, excused his deyIllsh deeds"
[Applause.l
Fellow-CitiZens,- The great calamity
which now bushes party clamOr, and re-
Dukes sectional animoSily, and which by
the fusion of a common sorrow Yields us to
geLber, reminds us Of the way in which
God in His providence cOmpeS Us to re-
cogniZe the dependence Of man upon man,
State upon State, and nation upon nation.
When war breaks out between two
great kingdoms, separated from us by the
ocean, we may seem to have no interest in
il {: we may think so, but soon We are con-
vinced OF our mistake. 1t affects us. in
wolves Us, quite independent OF our wishes.
Commerce is interrupted, trade ceases, pro-
visions become scarce and dear, and poor
widow on the banks of the Clyde, the
Seine, the Mississippi, the James, or the
Sacramento, loses her annuity, aud present.
ly suffers because OF war waged on the
other side OF the sea.
Or pestiential fever smtes the cities OF
our southern States, from Canada, from
New England, from the great States OF the
Northwest, contributions come, and nurses
and medicines and provisions, and a thou
sand tender expressions Of sympathy.
Or famine, like one which has so often
desoIated Ireland, smites that land, and
all Christendom becomes responsive TO Ire
lands sorrow, and even the Pagan and Mo-
hammedan world unite In the sacred minis
try OF relief to the suffering.
Thus God makes the very wounds OF hu-
manity the fountains from which issue the
tenderest sympathies and the sweetest char
tiles which bring comfort TO the suffer-
ing, and which at the same time make
the whole world akin in the conscious
ness Of common interests and inter.de-
pendence. [AppIause.] Most impressyely
has this lesson been taught us by the
sorrow which brings us here tonight. Our
President has been assailed by murderous
assassin. North, South, East, and West
are blended and fused by one common sor-
row; magnetic wires through all seas con-
yey messages OF coincidence and sympathy
japan and China unite with European
States; Paganism and Mohammedanism are
conf oined with ChristendOm in the express
sion OF a united hope that the bereavement
we apprehend may be averted, and that our
President may be spared to US. (Apphuse.]
But the cloud still impends. The crisis is
not yet over. Let us make that cl)ud a.
pavilion for prayer. Let us fringe its
urid edges with sympathy, with hope, and
with rekindled fires of patriotism, shining
Ill the brighter because relumed at the
altar OF our common country.
AT the conclusion Of DR.. Hoge's remarks
motion was submitted that the meeting
IdjOurn, which was adopted, and the vast
hrODg quietly dispersed.
SketchinS In Virginia.
PARTY OF sKETCHERS FROM THE CHICAGO
ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS TO VISIT RICHMOND,