Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1888-05-17

right an any other man was ever wronR-re-
| fused to kneel Owen Lovejoy, remembering
| his brothers noble blood, refused TO surrender.
and on the edge Of disunion, In the shadow Of
| civil war, with the air filled with sounds OF
dreadful preparation, while the Republican
| party was retracing its steps, Roscoe Conkling
voted no. This puts wreath OF glory on his
tomb. From that vote to the last moment Of
his life he was champion OF equal rights
etanch aud stalwart,
From that moment he stood In the front rank
He mover wavored and he never swerved. BY
his devotion to principle, his courage, tho
splendor OF his diction by his varied and pro-
found knowledge, his conscientious devotion to
the great cause and by his intellectual scope
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 CHASTITY meaning Of defeat.
He knew that the great ship that slavery sought
to strand and wreck was freghted with the
worlds sublimest hope. He battled for a
tions life, for the rights OF slaves, the dignity
OF labor, and the rights of all He guarded
with q fathers care the rights OF the hunted,
the hated and despised. He attacked the saw
age statutes of the reconstructed States with
torrent OF invective, 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 man in this
and other lands will speak his name in rover
ence and love. Others wavered, but he stood
frm some were falso, but no was proudly
true-fearlessly faithful unto death. He glad
ly, proudly grasped tho hands OF colored men
who stood with him as makers OF our laws, and
treated them as equals and as friends Tho
cry OF Social equality" coined and uttered by
the cruel and the base, was TO him the expros-
sion OF a 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 the ignorant and honest-and he
also felt, and proudly felt, that II he were not
too great to reach the hand OF help and rec
ognition to the slave no other Senator could
fightfully refuse.
Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely honest
man. Honesty is the oak around which all
other virtues cling. Without that they fall,
ana, groveling, die in weeds and dust. He be-
lieved that nation should discharge its OBJ
legations. 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 citizen-that a national
obligation was personal debt and that no
possible combination of words and pictures
could take the place OF coin. He uttered the
splendid truth that The higher obligations
among mon are not set down in writing signed
and sealed, but reside in honor" He knew
that repudiaton 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 fepudiation. He
upheld the sacredness of contracts, OF plighted
national faith, and helped to save and keep
the honor OF his native land. This adds an
other laurel to his brow.
He was the ideal represe atative, faithful and
incorruptiDie. He believed that his constitu-
ents and his conctrv we're entitled to the fruit
OF his experience, to his best and highest
thought No man ever held the standard OF
responsibility higher than he. He voted ac-
cording tu his judgment, his conscience. He
made no bargains-he neither bought nor sold.
To correct evils, abolish abuses, and inau-
gurate reforms he believed was not only the
duty but the privilege Of a legislator. He
neither sold nor mortgaged himself. He was
IN Congress during the years OF vast expendi-
ture Of war and waste, when the credit of the
nation was loaned to Individuals, when claims
were thick as leaves in June, when the amend
nj Qfn nfaf nsW NUIn unrd
meant millions, and when empires were given
to corporations. He stood at the summit OF his
power--peer OF the greatest-a loader tried
and trusted He had the tastos OF a prince.
the fortune Of peasant and yet ho 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 profound seas hido
His hand was never touched by any bribe, and
on his soul there never was q sordd stain.
Poverty was his priceless crown. Above his
marvellous intellectual gifts--above oil place he
ever rsached-above tho ermine he refused
rises his integrity like some groat mountain
peak, aed there it stands, firm as the earth be-
meath, 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 the fields of war. He knew
the maxims, those crystallizations Of common
sense those hand-grenades OF argument Ho
was not a case lawyer. decision index, or an
echo; no was original, thoughtful. and pro-
found. He had breadth and scope. re-
source, learning. logic and above oil o
sense OF justice. He was painstaking and
conscientious, anxious to know the facts,
preparing for every attack. ready for every de-
Tense. He rested only when tho end was
reached. During the contest no Mother sent
nor received q flag of truce. He was true to his
clents-making their case his. Feeling re-
sponsibility, he listened patiently to details,
and to his industry there were only the limits
Of time and strength. He was a student Of the
Constitution. He knew the boundaries Of State