The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-05-19

PSu oHSS ao SOuo, VIII DC lle very lOOu
of scorn, while those who bore the bur-
den of defeat, who earned and kept
their self-respect, who would not bow
to man or men for place or power, will
wear upon their brows the laurel
mingled with the oak.
Roscoe Conkling was man of superb
courage.
He not only acted without fear, but
he had that fortitude of soul that bears
the consequences of the course pursued
without complaint. He was charged
with being proud. The charge was
true-he was proud. His knees were
as lnfieXlble as the "unwedgeable and
gnarled oak" but he was Tot vain.
Vanity rests on the opinion of others
pride, on our own. The source of
vanity is from without-of pride, from
within. Vanity is a vane that turns a
willow that bends, with every breeze
pride is the oak that defies the storm.
One is cloud-the other rock. One is
weakness-the other strength.
This imperious man entered public
life in the dawn of the reformation-at
a time when the country needed men
of pride, Of principle and courage. The
institution of slavery had poisoned all
the springs of power. Before this crime
ambition fell upon its knees-politicians
judges, clergymen and merchant princes
bowed low and humbly, with their hats
in their hands. The real friend of man
was denounced as the enemy of his
countrY-the real enemy of the human
race was called a statesman and a
patriot. Slavery was the bond and
pledge of peace, of union and national
greatness. The temple of American
liberty was finished-.the auction block
was the cornerstone.
1t is hard to conceive of the utter
decentralization, of the political blindness
and immortality, of the patriotic dis
honesty, of the cruelty and degradation
of people who supplemented the in
comparable Declaration of Independ-
ence with the Fugitive Slave law.
Think OF the honored statesmen of
that ignoble time who wallowed in this
mlre and who, decorated with dripping
filth, received the plaudits of their fel-
low men. The noble, the really patri-
otic, 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 accord
ing to his light-according to his dark
ness.
At last the conflict came. The hosts
of light and 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 ot
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 immortal. An amend
ment to the Constitution was proposed
to the effect that no subsequent amend
ment should interfere with the right o1
man to steal his fellow men.
This, the most marvellous PROPOSE,
ton ever submitted to a congress o
civilized men, received 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 fol
which it had so gallantry contended
and with the trembling hands of feal
laid It's convictions on the altar of com.
promise.
The Old Guard, numbering sixty five
in the House. stood as firm as the roc
at Thermopyle. Thaddeus Stevens-as
mallciously right as any other man was
ever wrong-refused to kneel. Over
Lovejoy, remembering his brothers
noble blood, refused to surrender, and
on the edge of disunion, i'll the shadow
of civil war, with the air filled with
sounds of dreadful preparation, while
the Republican party wss retracing its
steps, Roscoe Conkling voted No
This puts wreath of glory on his tomb
From that vote to the last moment ot
his life he was a champion of equaI
rights, stanch and stalwart.
From that moment he stood in the
front rank. He never wavered and he
never swerved- By his devotion to
prlnciple-his courage, the splendor OF
his diction-by his varied and profound
knowledge, his conscientious devotion
to the great cause, and by his intellect
ual scope and grasp, he won and held
the admiration of his fellow men.
Disasters in the field, reverses at the
polls, did not and could not shake his
courage or his faith. He knew the
ghastly meaning of defeat He knew
that the great ship that slavery sought
to strand and wreck was frightened
with the sublimest hope.
He battied for a nations life-for
the right 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 despised. He
attacked the savages statutes of the
reconstructed States with a torrent of
invective, scorn and execration. He
was not satisfied until the freedman
was an American citizen-clothed with