St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-10
men of that ignoble time who wallowed
in this mire, and who, decorated with
dripping filth, received the

PLAUDITS OF THEIR FELLOW MEN.
The noble, the really patriotic, were
the victims of mobS, and the shameless
were clad in the robes of Office. But
let us speak no word of blame; let us
feel that each one acted according to his
light-according to his darkness. At
last the conflict came. The hosts OF
light aud darkness prepared to meet
upon the fields of war. The question
was presented: Shall the republic be
slave or free? The Republican party
had triumphed at the polls. The great
est man in our history was president
elect. The victors were appalled,; they
Shrank from the great responsibility of
success. In the presence of rebellion
they hesitated: they offered to return
the fruits of victory. Hoping to
avert war, they were willing
that slavery should become i'm
mortal. An amendment to the
constitution was proposed, to the effect
that no subsequent amendment should
ever be made that in any way should in
terfere with the right of man to steal
ms fellow men. This, the most marvel
Gus proposition ever submitted to con-
gresS OF civilized men, received in the
house an overwhelming majority, and
the necessary two-thirdS vote in the
senate. The Republican party, in the
moment OF its triumph, deserted every
principle for which it had so gallantly
contended, and with trembling hands of
fear laid its convictions on the altar of
compromise. The old guard, number
ing but sixty-five in the house. stood rs
firm as 800 at Thermopyl9. Thaddeus
Stevens-as maliciously right as any
other man was ever wrOng-refuSed to
kneel. Owen. Lovejoy, remembering
his brothers noble blood, refused to
surrender, and on the edge of disunion,
filled with sounds of dreadful prepare
tions, while the Republican party was
retraclng its steps, Roscoe Conkling
voted no. This puts
A WREATH OF GLORY
on his tomb. From that vote to the last
moment of his lite he was a champion
OF equal rights, Staunch and stalwaTt.
From this moment he stood in the front
rank. He never wavered and he never
swerved. By his devotion to principle
his courage, the splendor of his diction
by his varied and profound knowl-
edge, his conscientious devotion to the
great cause, and by his intellectual
scope and grasp, he won and held the
admiration of his fellow men. Disasters
IN the field, reverSeS at the polls, did
his faith. He knew the CHASTITY mean
ing of defeat. He knew that the great
ship that slavery sought to strand and
wreck was freighted with the worlds
Sublimest hope. He battled for
nations life-for the rights
of Slaves-the dignity of la
Dor, and the liberty of all.
He guarded with a fathers care the
rights of the hunted, the hated and
deSpiSed. He attacked the savage
statutes of the reconstructed states with
torrent of invective, scOrn and eXecra-
ton. 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. And long after
we are dead, the cOlored man in this and
other lands will speak his name in
reverence and love. Others wavered,
but he stood firm; some were false, but
he was proudly true-fearlesSly faithful
unto death. He gladly and proudly
grasped the hands of colored men who
stood with him as makers of our laws
and treated them as equals and as
friends. The cry of social equality''
coined and uttered by the cruel and the
base was to him the expression of
great and splendid truth.
ADONS HIS lndrNelOuS
INTELLECTUAL GIFTS,
above all place he ever reached-aboye
the ermine he refused, rises his integ-
rity like some great mountain peak
and there it stands, firm as the earth
beneath, pure as the stars above. He
was a great lawyer. He understood
the framework, the anatomy, the foun-
datlOns, of law; was familiar with the
great streams and currents and tides of
authority. He knew history of legisla-
tion-the principles that have been set
tied upon the field of war. He knew
the maXims-those crystallizations of
common sense, those hand-grenadeS of
argument. He was not a caSe-lawyer-a
decision index or an echo; he was orig
inal, thoughtful and profound. lie had
breadth and scope, resource, learning
logic, and, above all, sense of Justice.
He was painstaking and conscientious
anxious to know the factS-preparingf for
every attack, ready for every defense. He
rested only when the end was reached.
During the contest he neither sent nor
received flag of truce. He was true
to his Understanding their case his.
Feeling responsibility, he listened pa
tiently to details, and to his industry
there were only the limits of time for
manly acts. He did his work and
bravely spoke his thought, Sensitive
to the last degree, he keenly felt the
blows and
SLABS OF TIE ENvIoUs
and obscure, of the smallest, of the
weakest; but the greatest could not
drive him from conviction's field. He
would not stoOp to ask or give an eX-
PLANTATION. He left his words and deeds
to justify themselves. He held in light
esteem friend who heard with half
believing ears the SANDER of a foe.
He walked highway of his own. and
kept the company of his Self-respect.
He would not turn aside to avoid foe,
to greet or gain friend. In his nature
there was no compromise. To him there
were but two pathS-the right and
wrong. He was maligned, misrepre-
scented and misunderstood, but he would
not answer. He knew that character
speaks louder far than any words. He
was as silent then as he is now. and his
silence, better than any frame of speech.
refuted every charge. He was an Amer
ican-proud of his country, that was
and ever will be proud of him. He did
not find perfection only in other lands.
He did not grow small and slirunk.
withered and apologize in the presence
of any strength. He was q student of
the constitution. He knew the bound
aries of state and federal jurisdiction.
and no man was more familiar with
those great decisions that are the peaks
and promont0ries. the headlandS and the
beacOns of the law. He was an orator
earnest, logical, intense and pictur-
esque. He laid the foundation with
care, with accuracy and skill, and rose
by ''cold graduation and well balanced
form from the corner stone of state
ment to the domed conclusion. He filled
the stage. He satisfied the eye-the
audience was his. He had that indie
Unable thing called presence. Tall,
erect ample in speech,
graceful in compliment, Titanic in de-
RICH IN ILLUSTRATION,
prOdigal of comparison and metaphor