The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-05-10


for nation's life. for the rights OF slaves, the
dignity Of labor, and the liberty OF all de
guarded with fathers care the rights oz the
hunted. the hated and despised. He attacked
the savage statutes of the reconstructed States
with torrent Of invective, scorn and exscra-
tion- He Was not satisfied until the freedman
WAS % American citizen, clothed with every
civil right until the Constitution was bis shield
until the ballot was his sword. And long after
We are dead. the eolorsd man in this and other
lands viii speak his name ia reverence and love.
Others waversd. but he stood firm: some were
false. but he was proudly true, fearlessy faith
ful unto death. He gladly. proudly grasped tho
hands OF colored men who stood with him as
makers of our laws. and treated them az
equals and as friends. The cry or
social equality coined and uttered by the
cruelest base. was TO him the expression or .
great and splendid truth. He knew that no
man can be the equal OF the one he robs; that
the Intelligent and unjust are not the superiors
of ignorant and honest; and he also felt, and
proudly felt. that IL he were not too great to
reach the hand of help and recognition TO the
slave. no other Senator could rightly refuse.
I'VE rise by raising others, and he who stoops
above the fallen stands erect Nothing can be
erander than to SOW the seeds Of noble thoughts
and virtuous deeds, to iberate the bodies and
of race. and then in LIES last shadowy 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.
I'm our lives have been the grandest years
that man has lived, that time has measured by
the flight Of worlds. The history Of the great
party that let the oppressed 60 free, that lifted
our Nation from the depths Of savagery to free
dom's cloudless heights. and tore with holy
hands from every law the words that sanctified
the cruelty OF man, is the most glorious IN the
q xI-~~
such moral exaltation-never party with
purpose pure and high. It was the embodied
COINCIDENCE of a nation. the enthusiasm Of peo-
pie guided by wisdom. the impersonation OF
justice; and the sublime victory achieved
loaded even the conqueror with all rights that
freedom can bestow.
Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely honest
man. Honesty 10 the oak around which oil
other virtues cling. Without that they fall. and,
groveling, die in weeds aud dust He believed
He knew that promise could not be made
often enough or emphatic enough to take the
place Of payment. He felt that the promise of
the government was the promise Of every citi-
zen-that national obligation was personal
debt, and that possible combination of words
and pictures could take the place Of coin. He
uttered the splendid truth that the higher obli-
cations among men are not set down In writing,
signed and sealed. but reside In honor He
knew that reputation was the sacrifice of honor
tho death OF the national SOUL He knew that
without character, without integrity, there Is no
wealth. and that below poverty. below bank
ruptcy. is the rayless abyss Of reputation He
upheld the sacredness of contracts, or plghted
national faith. and helped to save and keep the
honor OF his native land. This adds another
laurel to his brow.
HE was the ideal representative -faithful
and incorruptlble. He believed that his con-
stituents and bis country were entitled to tho
fruit of his experience, to his best and highest
thought No man ever held the standard OF re-
sponsibilty higher than he. He voted accord
ing to his judgment, his conscience. He made
no bargains; he neither bought nor sold. To
correct evils, abolish abuses aud inaugnrate re-
forms. be believed was not only tho duty, but
the privilege of q legislator. He neither sold
nor mortgaged himself. He was in Congress
during the years of vast expenditures. Of war
and waste-when the credit of the Nation was
loaned to individuals-whec claims were thick
as leaves in June, when the amendment of q
statute, the change Of a single word, meant mill
ions, and when empires were given to corpora
tons. He TODD at the summit Of his power
peer of the ereatest-a leader tried and trusted
He had the tastes OF prince. the fortune of a
peasant, and yet he never swerved. No corpor-
alton was great enough or rich enough to pur-
chase him. His vote could not be bought for
all the sun sees, or the close earth
wombs, or the profound seas hide.
His hand was never touched by any bribe. and
on his soul there never was q sordid STAIN
Poverty was his priceless crown. Above his
marvellous intellectual gifts; above all place be
ever reached; above the ermine he refused rises
his integrity like some great mountain peak.
and there it stands, firm as the earth beneath,
pure as the stars above.
He was great lawyer. He understood the
framework, the anatomy, the foundations of
law; was familiar with the great streams, and
currents, and tides of authority. He knew the
history of legislation, the principles that have
been settled upon fields OF war. He knew the
maxims, those crystallizatons of common
sense. those hsnd-zrenades of argument He
was not q case lawyer, decision index, or an
echo; he was original, thoughtful and profound
He had breadth and scope resource. learning,
logic, and above all. sense OF justice.
to know tho facts prepared 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
Feeling responsibility, he listened patiently ia
details, and to his industry there were only the
limits Of time and strength. He was student
OF the Constitution. He knew the boundaries
was more familiar with those great decisions
that are the peaks and promontories, the head
lands and the beacons OF the law.
HE was an orator-earnest, logical. intense
and picturesque. He laid the foundation with
care with accuracy and skill, and rose by cold
cornerstone of statement 70 the domed conclus-
ion He filed the stage He satisfied the eye
the audience was his. He had that iDdefnable
thing called presence. TALL commanding,
erect, ample in speech. graceful in compliment,
titanic in denunciation, rich in illustration,
prodigal of comparison and metaphor, and his
sentences, measured and rkythmical fell like
music on the enraptured throng He abhorred
the Pharisee and loathed all conscient fraud
He had a profound aversion for those who in
sist on putting base motives back of the good
deeds Of others. He wore no mask. He knew
his friends; his enemies knew him.
he had no patience with pretense
with patriotic reasons for unmanly
acts. He did his work and bravely spoke his
thought Sensitive to the last degree, he keenly
| felt the blows and stabs Of the envious and OBJ
scure-of the smallest and the weakest-but the
| greatest could not drive him from convictions
| filed. He would not stop to ask or give an ex
| PLANTATION. He left his words and deeds to jus
| tify themselves. He held in light esteem
| friend who heard with halfbelieving ears The
| SANDER Of foe. He walked q highway OF hil
| 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 NJ
/ compromise To him there were but two paths
| the right and wrong. He was maligned, mis-
| represented and misunderstood, but he would
| not answer. He knew that character speaks
| louder far than any words He was = silent
| then as he is now-and his silence, better tb ar
| any form of speech. refuted every charge.
"He was an American. proud of his country
that was and ever will be proud OF him. II,