Huntsville gazette., 1888-05-12
IN MEMORY OF CON1[LING.
An ORATiON DELIVERY, az COL LoNEL
ROBERT q. INC. o.ERsoLL

rresent-Huw dreds Turned AWAY.
ALBANY, N. Y, May l.-Thirty- five
Hundred perS ,ns In the Academy of Music in
bis city .sednesday night listined to an
ovation by Col Robert G. Ingersoll to the
memory Of Roscoe Conkling, and one-fourth
rs nian' more besieged the barred doors,
while many climbed to the roof and peeped
throug h the skylights. The ceremonies were
under the auspices of the senate and assem-
bly, Col. Ingersoll said
= -ioscoe Conkling, a great man, an orator,
a statesman, a lawyer, distinguished citi
zcl. Of the republic, In the zenith of his fame
an power has reached his journeys end,
am we met, here in the city Of his birth,
to pay our tribute to his worth and work.
He earned and held proud position in the
pu olic thought. He stood for independence,
foi courage, and above all for absolute in
tel irity, and his name was known and hon
OF sd by many millions of his fellow men
I'm the presence Of death the Good Man
| Judges as he would be judged. He knows
| that msn are only fragments, that the great
| est walk in shadow, and that faults and fail
ures mngle with the lives Of all In the
grave should be burie the prejudices and
passions born of conflict. Charity should
| hold the scales in which are weighed the
deeds Of men. Peculiarities traits born of
| locality and surrounding, these are but the
/ dust of the race, these are accident, drapery
| clothes, fashion, that have nothing to do
| with the man except to hide his character
| They are the clouds that cling to mountains.
| Time gives US clearer vision. That which
| was merely local fades away, the words Of
| envy are forgotten, and all there is of sterl
, ing worth remains.
Fortunate is that nation great enough
to know the great When great man
dies, one who has nobly fought the bat
| tie Of a life, who has been faithful to every
trust, and has uttered his highest, noblest
thought one who has stood proudly by
the right iii spite of jeer and taint,
neither stopped by foe nor swerved by
friend, in honoring him in speaking words Of
and love above his his DUST we pay tribute
to ourselves. How poor this world would be
without its graves without the memories of
its mighty dead. Only the voiceleSs speak
forever.
In government of the people leader
should be teacher; he should carry the
torch of truth. Most people are the slaves
Of habit, followers of customs, believers
In the wisdom Of the past, and were it not
antique time would lie unswept, and noun
famous error be too highly heaped for truth
to overpeer'
''Custom is prison. locked and barred by
those who long ago were dust. the keys of
which are In the keeping Of the dead.
Nothing is grander than when strong, in
trepid man breaks chains, levels walls and
breasts the many-headed mob b-like some
great cliff that meets and mocks the innum
merable pillows of the sea. The politician
hastens to agree with the majority, insists
that their Tejndice Is patriotism that their
ignorance is wisdom, not that he loves them,
but because he loves himself. The statesman,
the real reformer, points out the mistakes OF
the multitude, attacks the prejudices of his
countrymen, laughs at their follies. denounces
their cruelties, enlightens and enlarges their
minds and educates the conscience, not be-
cause he loves himself, but because be loves
and serves the right and wishes to make his
country great and free.
"When real history shall be written by
the truthful and the wise, these men, these
kneelers at the shrines of chance and fraud,
these brazen idols, worshipped once as Gods,
will be the very food of scorn, while those
who bore the burden of defeat, who earned
and kept their self respect, who would not
wear upon their brows the laurel mingled
with the oak.
Roscoe Conkling was a 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 with
out complaint. He was charged with being
proud. The charge was true, he was proud.
His knees were as infexible as the 'un-
wedgeable and gnarled oak, but he was not
vain Vanity rests on the opinion of others,
pride on our own The source of vanity is
from without OF pride, from within. Van
ity is vane that turns, willow that bends,
E with every breeze; pride is the oak that de-
fies the storm. One is a cloud, the other
rock One is weakness the other strength.
HE was the ideal representative, faithful
and incorruptible He believed that his con-
sttuents and his country were entitled to
the fruits Of his experience, to his best and
high thought. No man ever held the stand
ard Of responsibility higher than he. He
voted according to his judgement, his con-
science He made no bargains, he neither
bought nor sold. To correct evils, abolish
abuses and inaugurate reforms he believed
was not only the duty, but the privilege, OF
a legislator. He neither sold br mortgaged
himself He was in congress during the
1
when the credit of the nation was loaned to
Individuals: when claims were thick as
leaves in June; when the amendment OF a
statute, change Of single word meant
millions, and when empires were given to
corporations He stood at the summit of
his power, peer Of the greatest. leader
tried and trusted He had the tastes of
, 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 the close earth wombs, or the pro-
found seas hide His hand was never
touched by any bribe, and on his soul there
never was a sordid stain. Poverty was his
priceless crown.
"He was a student Of the constitution He
knew the boundaries Of state and Federal
! jurisdiction, and no man was more familiar
with these great decisions that are the peaks
= and promontories, the headlands and the
beaconS of the law.
. "He was an orator, earnest, logical, intense
and picturesque He laid the foundation