Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-04-23

Columbus Dispatch, April Is.
The second volume of Mr.. Blaine's
book. Twenty Years of Congress: From
Lincoln to Garfield" opens with the
statement that Abraham Lincoln ex-
pired at % minutes after o'clock or
the morning of April 10, 1S65"-twenty
years ago to-day. Three hours later, the
oath of Office, as President of the Uni
ted States. was administered to Andrew
johnson, at the Kirkwood House. John
son had arrived but five days before
and was intending to leave for his home
in Tennessee within few hours. Thus
while the death of Lincoln was still un.
known to majority of the citizens oi
the Republic, his successor was installed
in Office, and the administration of the
Federal Government was radically
changed. This, as we'll as former and
subsequent instances of the Vice Presi
dent being called to act as President
forcibly illustrates the Importance of Sc.
lecting from the better class of public
men candidates for the Office of Vice
President. We have no word of reproach
in this connection, to utter against An
drew johnson. 1t must be remembered
that "in all the threats of disunion, in
all the plotting and planning for seces-
sion, which absorbed Southern thought
and action, Mr., johnson took no part
Mr.. Blaine's necessarily brief descrip
tion of the removal of the body of Lin
coin from Washington to Springfield is
the most touching of his many
beautiful utterances concerning some
of the men who have served their
country faithfully. In closing the three
pages devoted to this subject, Mr..
Blaine says:
The pomp with which sovereigns and
MOBILES are inferred is often formal rath-
er thad emotional, attaching to the rank
rather than to the person. Louis Phil
lippe appealed to the sympathy of
France when he brought the body of
the Emperor Napoleon from st. Helena
twenty years after his death; but the
popular feeling among the French was
chiefly displayed in connection with the
elaborate rites which attended the trans
fer of the dead hero to the Invalides,
where the shattered remnants of his
valiant and once conquering Iegions
formed for the last time around him.
Tar lot ha sofO
by whom the impartial warrier was at
last overcome, received from the popu+
lace of London, as we'll as from the
crown, the peers, and the commons of
England, the heartless tribute that Brit
ons ever paid to human greatness.
The spleHdor of the ceremonials which
aggrandize living royalty as much as
they glorlfy dead heroism, was wholly
wanting i'll the obsequies of Mr.. Lincoln.
No part was taken 10y the Government
except the provision of suitable mill
tary escort. All beyond was the spon-
taneOus movement of the people. For
seventeen hundred miles through eight
great States of the Union whose popula>
ton was not less than fifteen millions,
an almost continuous procession of
mOurners attended the remains of the
beloved President. There was no pa
geantry save their presence. There was
no tribute except their tears. They bow
ed before the bier of him who had been
prophet, priest and king to his people,
who had struck the shackles from the
slave, who had taught higher sense of
duty to the free man, who had raised
the Nation to loftier conception of
faith and hope and charity. A countless
multitude of men with music and BAN
ner and cheer, and the inspiration of a
great cause, presents spectacle that
engages the eye. fills the mind, appeals
to the imagination. But the deepest
sympathy of the soul is touched, the
height of human sublimity is reached,
when the same multitude, stricken with
a common sorrow, stands with uncover
ed head raVprant and Silant