Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-05-10
He Was an HoneSs Man
Many Men Do Honor to the
 Memory of Conkling.
ROBERT INGERsOLEs ADDRESS.
He Pays an Eloquent Tribute to the Many Good Qualities of the Departed Statesman-He Was a Good Lawyer and a Worthy Citizen.

and a Worthy Citizen.
 ALBANY, May l0-At the Academy of Music last evening there gathered about s, 800 representative citizens of New York state to honor the memory of Roscoe Conkling. The hall was densely packed, fully 2.0oo people being turned away. Upon the platform were seated as many as could be accommodated. The senate and assembly and near friends of the deceased had special places reserved for them. The only decoration was the draping of an American flag in front of the stage. The desk of the orator was covered with an American flag, and in front of it was @ large erayon portrait of MT. Conkling, the frame of which was draped-
 Lieutenant Governor Jones called the meet ing to order and introduced the speaker of the evening, Col Robert G. Ingersoil. The following includes the most impressive parts of his long and able oration:
 Roscoe Conkling-a great man, an orator, statesman, lawyer, O distinguished citizen of the republic, in the zenith of his fame and power has reached his journeys end; and we are met, here in the city of his birth, to pay our tribute to his worth and work He earned end held proud position in the public thought He stood for independence, for courage, and above all for absolute integrity, and his name was known and honored by many millions of his fellow men.
 Roscoe Conkling was a man Of superb courage.
 He not only acted without fear, but he had that fortitude of soul that bears the conse- quences of the course pursued without com plaint He was charged with being proud. The charge was true-he was proud. His knees were as iniexible as the ''unwedgeable and gnarled oak, !" but he was not vain. This inperious man entered public life in 6or ,.,ff 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; poli- ucians, judges, clergymen and merchant princes bowed low and humbly, with their hats in their hands The temple of American liberty was finished, the auction block was the corner stone.
 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 free2 The Re publican party had triumphed at the polls. The greatest man in our history was presi- dent elect. The victors were appalled,; they shrank from the great responsibility of suc- cess. In the presence of rebellion they hesi- tated; they offered to return the fruits of victory. Hoping to avert war they were willing that slavery should become immortal An amendment to the constitution was pro- posed, to the effect that no subsequent amend ment should ever be made that in any way should interfere with the right of man to 1 steal his fellow men.
 This, the most marvellous proposition ever submitted to a congress of civilized men, re- ! celVeu ll the mouse o,v.---L-l---s-s -;--- i ity, and the necessary two-thirds in the sen- ate The Republican party, in the moment of its triumph, deserted every principle for which it had so gallantly contended, and with the trembling hands of fear laid its con- victions on the altar of compromise. The old guard, numbering but sixty-five | in the house, stood firm the 800 at Thermopyle. Thaddeus Stevens-as mali ciously right as any other man was ever wrong-refused to kneeL Owen Lovejoy- remembering his brothers noble blood, re- fused to surrender, and on the edge of dis union, in the shadow of civil war, with the air filled with sounds of dreadful prepara- tion, while the Republican party was retrac- ing its steps, Roscoe Conkling voted no. This puts a wreath of glory on his tomb. 1 From that vote to the last moment of his life he was a champion of equal rights, 1 staunch and stalwart.
 From that moment he stood in the front rank. He never wavered and he never swerved- By his devotion to principle, his ! courage, the splendor of his diction; by his
 
 scientious devotion to the great cause, and by his intellectual scope and grasp, he won and ] held the admiration of his fellow men. Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely honest man.
 He was the ideal representative, faithful and incorruptible. He believed that his con- stituents and his country were entitled to the fruit of his experience, to his best and highest thought No man ever held the standard of
 
 cording to his judgment, his conscience. He made no bargains neither bought nor sold.
 Above his marvellous intellectual gifts above all place he 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 a great lawyer. He understood the frame work, the anatomy, the founda- tions of law; was familiar with the great streams and currents and tides of authority.
 He was an orator, earnest, logical, intense and picturesque. He laid the foundation with care, with accuracy and skill, and rose by "cold gradation and well balanced formn from the corner stone of statement to the domed conclusion. He filled the stage. He satisfied the eye-the audience was his. He had that indefinable thing called presence. | Tall, commanding, erect-ample ln speech, graceful in compliment, Titanic in denuncia- ton, rich in illustration, prodigal of com parison and metaphor-and his sentences, measured and rhythmical, fell like music on the enraptured throng.
 1 In his nature there was no compromise. To him there were but two paths-the right and wrong. He was maligned, miTepresented and misunderstood; but he would not answer.
 He knew that character speaks louder far
 than any words. He was as silent then as he
 Is now, and his silence, better than any form
 of speech, refuted every charge.
 He was an American, proud of his country,
 that was and ever will be proud of him.
 And as he lived he died Proudly he entered
 the darkness-or the dawn-that we call
 death. Unshrinkingiy he passed beyond our
 horizon, beyond the twilight's purple hills
 beyond the utmost reach of human harm or , help, to that vast realm of silence or of joy , where the innumerable dwell, and he has left
 with us his wealth of thought and deed, tho
 memory of brave, imperious, honest man
 who bowed alone to death.
 When the deafehing and long continued : applause which greeted the orator had con
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