Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-10
ROSCOE CoNKLING.
IcoNrINurp rncn rrnsr PACE. !

bellion, hoping to avoid war; the
were willing slavery should becom
immortal. An amendment to the Cor
stitution was proposed, to the effe,t
that no subsequent amendment shoul
be made that in any way should II
terfere with the right of. ma
to steal his fellowman. Thi
most marvellous proposition eve
submitted to q congress OF civiilze
men, received in the House an ovel
whelming majority and the necessar
two-thirds in the Senate. The Re
publican party, in the moment OF It
triumph, deserted every principle to
which it had SO gallantly commended
and with trembling hands of fear lai
its convictions on the altar of comprc
mise.
"The Old Guard, numbering bu
sixty-fve in the House, stood firm a
the Three Hundred at Thermopylp
Thaddeus Stevens refused to kneel
Owen Loveioy refused to surrender
and on the edge of the discussion il
the shadow Of civil war, with the ali
filed with sounds OF dreadful prepara
ton, while the Republican party was
retracing its steps, Roscoe Conkline
voted No This puts the wreath of glory
on his tomb. From that vote to the last
moment of his life, he was. the cham
pion OF rights, staunch and stal |~art
from that moment he stood in the
front rank. He never wayered and
never swerved. He battled for the
life, for the rights of the slaves, for
the dignity of labor and the liberty OF
all. He guarded with a fathers care
the rights of the humble, hated
and despised. He attacked the
savage statutes of the reconstructed
States with torrent of invective,
scorn and execration. He was not
satisfied until the freedman was an
American citizen, clothed with every
civil right; until the Constitution was
his shield; until the ballot was his
sword. Others wearied but he st ,od
firm; some were false, but he was
proudly true, fearlessly faithful unto
death.
seNothing can he grander than to SOW
the seeds OF noble thoughts and yir-
tuous deeds; to liberate the bodies
and souls OF men; to earn the CRATE
full homage of race, and then in
life's last shadowy hour to know and
feel that the historian OF liberty will
be compelled to write your name in
the history OF that great party that let
the oppressed go free; that lifted our
nation from the depths of savagery to
freedom IS cloudless heights and tore
with holy hands from every law the
words that sanctified the cruelty of
man, as most glorious in the annals
OF our race.
"Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely
honest man. He uttered the splen-
did truth that the higher obligations
among men are not set down in writ
ing, signed and sealed. but reside in
honor. He was the ideal Represen-
tative, faithful and incompatible. He
believed his constituents and his
were entitled to the fruit of his
to his best and highest
thoughts. No man ever held the
Of responsibility higher than
he. He voted according to his judg-
ment, his conscience. He made no
bargains he neither bought nor sold.
To correct evils, abolish abuses and
reforms, he believed was
not only the duty, but the privilege OF
the legislator. He neither sold nor
himself.
"He was in Congress during the
years OF a vast expenditure of war
and waste. when the credit of the
Nation was loaned to individuals;
when claims were thick as the leaves
in June; when the amendment of a
statute, the change of single word,
meant millions, and when empires
were given to corporations. He
stood at the summit of his
the peer OF the greatest
OF leaders, tried and trusted.
He had the tastes OF a prince, the
fortune of peasant, and yet he never
swerved. No corporation was great
enough or rich enough to purchase
him. His vote could not be bought
(for all the sun sees, or close earth
or profound sea hides.) His
hand was never touched by any bribe,
and on his soul there was never
a sordid stain. Poverty was his price,
less crown. Above his marvellous in
tellectual gifts, above all places he
ever reached, above the ermine he re-
fused, rises his integrity as some great
mountain peak. and there it stands as
firm as the earth beneath, pure as the
stars above.
"He was great lawyer. He under
stood the frame work, the anatomy
and foundation of law he'was familiar
with the great streams and currents
and tides Of authority. He knew the
history of legislation; the principles
that had been settled; the fields Of
war. He knew the maximum of those
crystalizations of common sense, those
hand grenades of argument. He
was not case lawyer, a
deGDion index, or an echo. He
was original, thoughtful and profound.
He had breadth and scope, resource,
learning, logic, and above all sense
Of justice. He was pains-taking and
anxious to know facts,
for every attack, and ready
for every defense. He rested only
Wneu INC emu was reaCD6u. DuTlnB u
contest he neither sent nor received q
flag OF truce he was true to his
clients, making their case his, feel.
ing their responsibility; he listened
patiently to details; and to his in
dustry there were only limits Of time
and strength.
"He was student of the Constitu-
ton. He knew the boundaries of
Federal Jurisdiction, and no man was
more familiar with those great deci-
sions than he. He knew all the peaks
and promontories, every headland and
beacon OF law.
"He was an orator, earnest, logical,
intense and picturesque. He laid the
foundation with care, with accuracy
and skill, and rose by cold
graduation and well-balanced form
from the cornerstone Of state
ment to the domed conclusion.
He filed the stage, he saddened the
eyes of the audience. He had that
indefinable thing called presence
Al IL -.