The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-11-03
Tribute to Charles A. Dana.

A. Dana were paid by Horatio s.
Rubens, L thu Root and Hon. Bourke
Cochran. Mr.. Cochran said in part:
"MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN: II grief can be solaced by sympathy
and II sorrow is slackened when 1t is widely
shared, this gathering should be o fountain
OF consolation to the friends Of Charles A.
Dana. 1t is q tribute glorious to the
memory to which 1t Is paid, and 1t Is credit
able to the grateful men and women who
have offered it, 1t Is more than mere ex-
preston of woe over bitter bereavement.
1t is pledge, solemnly voiced by Amer
lean citizens over the open grave OF an IL
lustrious departed American, that the prin-
ciples for which he contended during his
lifetime will be cherished by his country
men, upheld and defended until their ulti-
mate triumph shall be the supreme vindica-
ton Of his memory.
"Tbose of us who, with bowed heads and
heavy hearts, heard the earth last Wednes-
day fall upon the remains of our departed
friend find much consolation for our grief
in this gathering tonight. We see here the
living, convincing and triumphant proof
that death has no sting for the.virtuous man
and the grave no victory over well-spent
life. He Is not dead whose spirit moves
living men to virtuous resolutions. He has
not left us who can still inspire us to noble
deeds.
IL do not believe that in the course OF
generation the American people have re-
ceived an announcement which has spread
so much gloom throughout this continent.
Everywhere the English language Is spoken
men felt that great light OF literature had
been extinguished. Everywhere men felt
that fearless champion of human liberty
and OF human progress had been over
thrown. The shaft that laid him low para
lyzed the hand which had welded the most
trenchant pen that wrote the English lam
guage. 1t stilled the fires in the most
patriotic bosom that ever throbbed with
love Of country.
"Ciyilization has lost one Of its most con-
spicuous ornaments American citizenship
has been deprived of a pillar that contrf-
buted to its security. Justice has lost de-
fender; liberty has lost champion; but
the friends who knew him well have suf-
fered grief more poignant than can be de-
scribed. On us who were admitted to his
friendship death has indeed laid heavy
hand 1t has silenced the most sympathetic
counsellor to whom we could turn when in
need of sympathy. 1t has removed the
kindliest gentlemen that ever mingled in So
cial pleasures. 1t has stilled the warmest
heart that ever throbbed to the demands OF
friendship
"As we stood by his grave we felt that one
OF the chief sources of Joy and pleasures had
gone out of our lives; that the very splen-
dor of the sunshine had become obscuIed.
In this gathering tonight not merely the
whole world, participate in spirit If not by
their presence Everywhere men are will
ing to participate in the expression OF re.
greet for the loss of this profound scholar, this
brilliant journalist this Toe of hypocrisy, OF
corruption and of sham; this friend of lib
erty, this exponent of Americanism, this
shining example Of civic and OF domestic
virtue.
Among the varied phases Of his charac-
ter it is hard to select that which is the most
attractive or imposing. 1t is the fashion TO
speak OF him as a journalist, but that ex-
preston affords only faint suggestion OF
bis pursuits, his achievements, or his powers.
He was not a journalist who pursued his
profession for pecuniary prizes. His was
the devotion of his intellectual, his spiritual,
and his mental forces to the cause OF hui
manity. He knew nothing in the discharge
of his editorial duties except the service OF
truth, the defence of justice, and the prop
agation of liberty His sympathies were
not con fined to one country; they enwrap-
ped the whole world. 1t is the fashion to
speak of him as the last of the great editors.
1t would be more truthful to say he was the
first as well as the last.
CHS place in journalism is sepai ate from
that occupied by anybody else. and far
above any rival or competitor. Many edi'
tors may have had some Of his qualities;
none embraced them all. There may have
| been editors as erudite as he, editors as
kindly as he, editors as patriotic as he, edi-
tors with as lofty a conception OF their du-
ties; but no one editor was at the same time
| rs learned as kindly, as patriotic, az moor
ruptible, as Charles A. Dana.
"He was many-sided man and much OF
his character was of dazzling brilliancy.
His genius was 80 resplendent that any
man who denied 1t would have confessed
that he himself was of narrow intellect.
The dominating character of his journalism,
as, indeed, of his whole life, was his Ameri-
canism, his profound conviction that the
| institutions of government in this country
were at once the glory and the hope OF civil
| ization, and his answering belief that they
would be permanent, If not perpetual, be-
cause they were built upon the conscience
and morality of the most conscientious and
virtuous people on the surface of the globe.
Manifestations of disorder sometimes
| caused men to doubt the future; but when
any person expressed the faintest doubt
| as to the permanency of this Government
or the ultimate triumph of American virtue
over all forces of disorder, over all forces OF
| political vice, Mr.. Dana would look upon
! him as If he were face to face with some
| lunatic who denied the revolution of the
earth itself!
Throughout the whole of his editorial
work his underlying characteristic was a
passionate love OF liberty, strong sense OF
justice, and an equally powerful and vim
dictive aversion TO wrong, hypocrisy OF
| crime.
"He was a lover of liberty. He was a
champion of popular rights, but he was the
most vigorous opponent of those who
sought to perpetrate license or violence in
the sacred name of freedom. When last
year he concluded that the party with
which he had been affiliated during the
best years of his life had adopted platform
the success Of which, in his judgment
would have been fatal to the security of oul
government, without an instant's hesita
tation he scattered the associations of {
lifetime to the winds; he scorned to com
promise with his conscience or to seek thu
evasion of pretending to support an indie
pendent ticket Boldly and without ques
ton he advocated the election of the mar
whose nomination he had opposed and fo
whom he had no personal liking.
"Among the causes which led to the sue
cess of the present administration, Mr.
Danas active and vigorous support wa
perhaps the most potent; and whateve
men may think Of the question involved il
that canvass, no man can hesitate to appre
ciate the lofty patriotism which led Mr.
Dana to renounce the associations and al
filiations of lifetime when, in his judg
ment, the welfare Of his country demanded
the sacrifice.
"Among all the incidents of that simple
and impressive funeral which we ATTENDED
in the little country churchyard at Glel
Cove, nothing was 80 touching as thu
trihuta w binb tha Guhan patrinfa planad IA,