Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-12-16
GEN. BLACKS GREAT SPEECH.

Record the great speech of Gen. John
c. Black, of Illinois, on the resolu-
tion to accept the statue of Gen.
Shields from the State of Illinois:
Mr.. Speaker, the kindly insistence
of my colleagues has assigned to me
the pleasing task of speaking to the
pending resolution, the purport OF
which is to accept from the State Of
Illinois, in behalf of the United
States, statue of one of her illustri-
Gus citizens.
The law devolved upon the Legis-
lature of that State the duty of the
selection of the man who was thus to
be concentrated, and it was no easy
task which thus fell to the general
assembly at Springfield.
Mr.. Speaker, it was not an easy
task to select the foremost man from
among the men who for more than
two hundred years have been part of
the great procession of humanity
which has swept across the borders
of the State of Illinois, which State,
by it's geographical location, its ex-
tent, and the Incidents of its forma-
tion is peculiarly the central com
monwealth of the great American
Republic.
Before Virginia had coded to the
Federal Union the territory from
which Illinois was framed, the State
had been the home of men of distinc-
| tion and renown. Our counties, our
cities, and our rivers bear record of
the memory of our people for those
who were working at the very found
ations of the State in its youth.
There were dwelling for time the
devout Joliet the chivalrous La
Sale, the earnest Marquette; and
after and with them, all that count
less tide of men, undistinguiShed
save perchance in the little circle of
their own neighborhoods, who in
their passing by, like the coral in
sects Of the Southern seas, have by
their lives wrought greatness and
stability into an empire State.
After them there came the men
who had made themselves distin-
guished in the war for independence
and in the struggle of 1872 After
the fitful fevers Of their time, many
of them chose their abodcs with us
and found the peaceful honors Of the
civic state
For seventy-five years after the
adoption of its first constitution by
the State of Illinois, its bench has
been occupied by illustrous men. In
those quiet regions where the mighty
work of humanity is done, where the
sound of passion is not heard, and
where the scales of justice are poised
with true hands, there was an array
of men of whom all the citizens of
the State of Illinois are proud.
There sparkle the names Of Breese,
of Scofeld and of Walker, and there,
too is found the name of Davis,
who was called from the Circuit
bench of Illinois to take his place
upon the bench of the Sup eme
Court of the United States, and who
from that Olympian height, at time
when it seemed as ii in the eXulta
tion of victory civic rights were tC
be destroyed, dared hold the ermint
of the Judge before the face of vic
torious faction, to re-estahlish the
writ of habeas corpus, and all over
the land to give new birth to civil
law and set again upon lasting foun
dations the rights of the citizen.
And at that same epoch, creates
, OF the great of the great Republic
from the civil ranks of the citizens
of that State, came that man whom
no partiality can overpraise, WHOM
no detracton can lower, who needs
no monument, but whose character
rising beneath the central dome o
heaven, will stand forever as higt
type Of Justice and az the same tim,
of magnarimity: the man who wa
President of the United States dur
ing the civil war. Applause.
Up among the clouds that gathered
In go aud '6l rise to immortal heights
Lincoln and Douglas, rivals in al
their early lives, leaders on Opposln,
sides Of the vast hosts OF freemen
= whose children still hon IT them ant
I whose remotest descendants vii
, turn with reverence 10 where ines
reconciled rivals stand side by sid
in glory.
And by them another lllinOisar
C the leader surrounded by his chose
e chiefs, Logan and Ransom, Rawlins
4 and Wallace, that leader who In tn
hour Of exultati0n, from the mids
Of the clouds Of war could stretc
J. forth 10 mercy the mailed hand d
IS battle not unnervcd by remorse, hu
n strong aud vibrant with the love q
. country, and say 10 tones that wi
nnd echo In every home while Amer
lea endufes, "let us have peacel
g applause who could, from tn
stricken Held ut war turn aud CIV
o. The ,aululshed AN that their man
bnld required and an that che situ
uIIon enabled him tu tvstHw tn
means nf living and the nations ftuu
4 che haYeratrks uf hh soldiers
lhesf NrfH 4mHng thr sHHs "a ilI
n coils lNeae were WHn ifnm Nhnm
ahnre might sell base Han mai
\ hr lHa fiatH0 thal r. W HiH 1mNW