Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-05-11

a people who supplemented the incom-
parable Declaration of Independence with
the Fugitive Slave law. Think of the
hcnored statesmen Of that ig-
noble time who wallowed in
their mire, and who, decorated with
dripping filth, received the plaudits
of their fel1owmen. The noble, the re-
ally patriotic, were the victims of the
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 toshis light; according to his
darkness. At last the conflict came. The
hosts of light and darkness prepared to
meet upon the fields of war. The ques-
ton was presented; Shall the republic
be slave or freea The Republican party
had triumphed at the polls. The great
est man in eur history was p~resident-
elect. The victors were a~ppa1led-theyl
shrank from the great responsibility Of
success. lii the presence of rebellion
they hesitated. They offered to return
the fruits of victory; hoping to avert
war they were willing that sla-
very should become immortal. An
amendment to the constitution was pro-
posed to the effect that no subsequent
amendment should ever be made that in
any way should Interfere with the right
| VI lihh " StCdl III 1cllOW uldl. lUlS,
the most marvellous proposition aver sub
mitted to a congress of civilized men, re-
cefyed in the house an overwhelming
majority, and the necessary two thirds
in the senate. The Republican party, in
the moment of Its triumph, deserted
every principle for which it had SO gal
lantly commended, and with the trembling
hands of fear laid its convictions
on the altar Of compromise. The
Old guard, numbering but sixty
hye in the house, stood as firm
as the three hundred at Thermopyl8.
Thaddeus Stevens, as maliciously right ms
any other man was ever wrong, refused
to kneeL Owen Lovejoy, remembering
his brothers. noble blood, refused to sur
render, and on the edge of dissolution
and in the shadow of civil war, the air
filled with sounds Of dreadful prepara-
ton, while the Republican party were re-
tracing its steps, Roscoe Conkling voted
mo" This put q wreath of glory on
his tomb. From that vote to the present
moment of his life he was the champion
OF civil rights, staunch and stalwart; from
that moment he stood in the front
rank. He never wavered and he never
sWerved. BY his devotion to principle,
h spiendOr of his diction, by his variety
NaA lOhSS, lis COuSClCllUIDuS
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, reyerses at the
polls, did not n could not shake his
courage or his faith. He knew the
CHASTITY meaning of defeat He knew
that the great ship that slavery sought to
strand and wreck vas freighted with the
worlds sublimest hope. He battled for
Q nations life, for the rights of slaves,
the dignity OF labor, and the liberty of
all. He guarded with a fathers care the
rights of the hunted, the hated and de-
spised. He attacked tho savage statutes
Of the reconstructed states with q torrent
OF lnyectiye, 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, and long after we are dead, the
colored men in this and other lands will
speak his name in reverence and love.
Others wayered, but he stood firm; some
were fglse. but he was proud
~ true, fearlessly faithful unto
death. He grandly, proudly grasped
the hands of co1oreds men who stood with
him as makers of our laws, and treated
them as equals ahd as friends. The cry
of social equality coined and uttered
by the cruel and the base, was to him
the expression of q great and splendid
truth. BE knew that no man can be the
equal OF the one he robs; that the intelli-
gent and unjust are not the superiors of
the ignorant n honest. and he also felt
and proudly felt, that he was not too
great to reach the hand of help and rec
ognition to thes slave. No other senator
could rightfnlly refuse. We rise by rais-
Ing others, and he who stoops above the
fallen stands erect. Nothing can be
grander than to sow the seeds Of noble
thoughts and %virtuous deeds, to iberate
the bodies and souls of men, to earn
the grateful homage of d race; in life's
s~hadowed hour, to know and feel that
the historian of liberty will be compelled
to write your name. There are no words
Intense enough, with heart enough, to
express my admiration for the great and
gallant souls who have In every age and
every land upheld the right, and who
have lived and died for freedoms sake.
In u lives have been the grandest years
that men have lived, that time. has meas.
ured by thef flight of worlds.
The history of that great party that let
the oppressed go freed, that lifted our ma
ton from the depths Of sayagery TO free
dom's cloudless heights, and tore with
holy hands from every law the words
that sacrificed the creation of man.
IS the most glorious in the annals of our
race. Never before was there such a
moral exultation, never a party with a
purpose SO pure and high. It was the
embbdied conscience of q nation, the en-
thusiasm OF o people guided by wisdom.
Inc nnpersonation of Justice. and the
sublime victory achieved loaded even the
conquered with NIL the rights that free
dom can bestow.
Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely hon
est man. Honesty Is the oak around
which all other virtues cling. Without
that they fall, and groveling die in weeds
q dust. He believed that a nation
should discharge its obligations. He
knew that q promise could not be made
OFTEN enough or emphatic enough
to take the place Of payment. He IN
held the sacredness of contracts, of
phghted national faith, and helped to
save and keep the honor of his native
Land. This adds another laurel to his
brow, 70 correct evils, abolish abuses.
saaa l~naugurate reforms, he believed was
not only the duty, but tho privilege OF a
legislator. lie neither sold nor mortgaged
himself. He was in congress during thu,
years OF vast expenditure OF war. and
WheE n credit of the nation was
loaned 70 individuals, when claims were
rs thick as leaves In June. when IN
The amendment of O statute the
cnange OF a single word meant
millions, and when empires were given
TO corporations. He stood at the summit
1 of his power-peer Of the oraot1ct a