Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-03-06
INGALLS, ELOOuENCE.

Vi OuI
INGALLS, ELOQUENcE.
The euIogy of Senator ingalls,, last
week, in the United States senate. on
the lite and character of the late James
n. Burns, congressman from Missouri.
was the most eloquent effort in the his
tory of that body in decade. We re-
produce the remarks here and hope that
it will be preserved by every lover of
oratory and fine language. He said /:
These are the closing hours of a clos
ing scene of drama of national life.
When this day week returns, one politi-
Cal party will rellnquiSh and another
assume the executive functions of gov
eminent. On every hand are visible
the preparations to welcome the COMING
and speed the parting guest. At the
eastern pOrtico already stands the stage
on which the great actors will play their
parts in the presence of mighty audi
ence, amid the mimic pomp and circum-
stances OF war, with the splendor of
banners, muslc's martial strains and
the hoarse salutations of accentuating
guns
Enterprises of great pith and mo-
ment wait upon the event of the brief
interval. While pleasure wanders rest
lessly through the corridors of the CAPT
tol, hope and fear, ambition, cupidity
and revenge sit in the galleries, or stand
at the gates, eager, like dying Elizabeth.
to exchange millions of money for the
inch of time upon which success orfail
ure, wealth or penury, honor or obloduy
depend.
''At this juncture and crisis. when
each instant is priceless, disregarding
every inducement, resisting every in
centlye and solicitation, the senate pro-
ceedS by unanimous consent to consider
resolutions of the highest privilege, re-
ported from no committee, having no
place upon any calendar, but which
take precedence of unfinished business
and special order, upon which the yeas
and nays are never called, and no mega
tive vote is ever recorded, and reverent.
~ pauSeS, in obedience to the hottest
impulse of human nature, to contem-
plate the profOundest mystery of hu-
man destiny, the mystery of death.
I'm the democracy OF the dead, at
least all men are equal. There is Meth
er rank, nor station, nor prerogatiye in
the republic of the grave. At this fatal
threshold the philosopher ceases to be
wise, and the song of the poet is silent.
Dives relinquishes his millions and Lag
arus his rags. The poor man is as rich
as the richest. and the rich man is as
poor as the pauper. The creditor loses
his usury and the debtor is acquitted of
his obligation. There the proud man
surrenders his dignities, the politician
his hOnors. the wording his pleasures
the invalid needs no physician and the
labOrer rests from unrequited toll.
Here at last is natures final degree
in equity. The wounds of time are re-
dressed. Injustice is expiated. The
irony of fate is refuted. The UNEQUAL
distribution of wealth, honor, capacity,
and opportunity, which make life so
cruel and inexplicable, ceases in the
realm OF death. The strongest there
has nOSupremacy and the weakest needs
no defence. The mightiest captain sue
cumbs to that invincible adversary who
disarms alike the victor and the van
pushed.
James Nelson Burnes, whose death
we deplore to-day, was a man whom
Plutarch might have described or Van
dyke delineated; massive, rugged and
robust; in motion slow. in speech SON
orOus and deliberate; grave in aspect.
serious in demeanOr of an antique and
heroic mould; the incarnation of force.
energy and power.
Not perpleXed by moral distractions
nor mental subletles, he possessed that
aSSemblage OF qualities which make sue
cess in practical affairs inevitable.
Great enterprises were natural to him.
Breadth, grasp and comprehension char
acterlZed his projects. Early perceivlng
the enormous possibilities of the valley
of the MlSSouri-lOnger than the Anna
ZOn and more fertile than the Nile-he
Immediately identified himself with the
forces which have developed the empire
OF the Northwest; made the American
desert an oasis and abolished the from
tier. AT the bar, on the bench, in bust
ness and politics he was foremost for a
quarter of century.
"When we first met. st. Louis was an
outpost of civilization, and Jefferson
City the farthest point reached by rail-
road. In all that vast region, from the
sparse settlements along the Missouri
to the Sierra Nevadas, from the Arkan-
| SaS to the YellOwStOne-nOwt the abode
of millions, soon to be represented in
this chamber, there was neither huSban-
dry nor harvest, habitatiOn nor home,
save the casual encampmentS of the
BedOuinS of the plains, more savage
than the beasts they slew.
Ave were nelghbors, as that word
goes in the West. Twenty miles to the
northward, across the turbid stream,
the level bars of tawny sand and the
vast expanse of primeval forests were
visible from my door, IN the morning
and evening sun, the spires and the
towers of the city where he dwelt, and
with whose history his name will be IN
dissolubly associated. Here in state
ly home, with ample fortune, equlpagv
and retinue, surrounded by a family he
adored, by friends devoted to him and
by enemies whom he had overcome, he
| confidently anticipated larger triumphs
and loftier honOrS yet to be. AS |
looked for the last time upon that coun-
tenance from which, for the first time
In many years, No kindly glance of rec
OgnitIOn or word of welcome came, /
reflected on the impenetrabIe and sol
emn mystery of death. But if death be
the end. if the life of Burnes terminated
upon this bank and shoal of time, if no
morning is to dawn upon the night in
which he sleeps, then sorrow has no
consolation, apG this impressive cere-
more significance than the painted pa
geant of the stage. If the existence OF
Burnes was but troubled dream, bis
death oblivion, what avails it that the
senate should pause to recount his yir-
tues, and that his associates should as
semble in solemn sorrow around his
YoIceless sepulchre. Neither venera-
ton or reverence are due to the dead,
if they are but dust; no cenotaph should
be reared to preserve for posterity the
memory of their achievements, if those
who come after them are to be only
their successors in humiliation and ex-
/ tinction.
UNLESS we survive the ties of birth,
mOckeTy the structure of laws and Gus
toms upon which society is based, de-
tected impostare; the code of morality
and Justice, the sentiments of gratitude