Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2: From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 — John Shaqi
Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2: From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860Blaine, James Gillespie
History
Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2: From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860
Blaine, James Gillespie
United States -- History; United States -- History -- 1865-1898
In the city of New York the popular feeling was, if possible, even more
marked than in Philadelphia. The streets were so crowded that the
procession moved with difficulty to the City Hall, where amid the
chantings of eight hundred singers, the body was placed upon the
catafalque prepared for it. Throughout the day and throughout the
entire night the living tide of sorrowful humanity flowed past the
silent form. At the solemn hour of midnight the German musical
societies sang a funeral-hymn with an effect so impressive and touching
that thousands of strong men were in tears. Other than this no sound
was heard throughout the night except the footsteps of the advancing
and receding crowd. At sunrise many thousands still waiting in the
park were obliged to turn away disappointed. It was observed that
every person who passed through the hall, even the humblest and
poorest, wore the insignia of mourning. In a city accustomed to large
assemblies and to unrestrained expressions of popular feeling, no such
scene had ever been witnessed. On the afternoon appointed for the
procession to move Westward, all business was suspended, and the grief
of New York found utterance in Union Square before a great concourse of
people in a funeral oration by the historian Bancroft and in an elegiac
ode by William Cullen Bryant.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the great cities along the entire
route. Final obsequies were celebrated in Oakridge Cemetery near
Springfield on the fourth day of May. Major-General Joseph Hooker
acted as chief marshal upon the occasion, and an impressive sermon was
pronounced by Bishop Simpson of the Methodist-Episcopal church.
Perhaps in the history of the world no such outpouring of the people,
no such exhibition of deep feeling, had ever been witnessed as on this
funeral march from the National Capital to the capital of Illinois.
The pomp with which sovereigns and nobles are interred is often formal
rather than emotional, attaching to the rank rather than to the person.
Louis Philippe appealed to the sympathy of France when he brought the
body of the Emperor Napoleon from St. Helena twenty years after his
death; but the popular feeling among the French was chiefly displayed
in connection with the elaborate rites which attended the transfer of
the dead hero to the _Invalides_, where the shattered remains of his
valiant and once conquering legions formed for the last time around
him. Twelve years later the victorious rival by whom the imperial
warrior was at last overcome, received from the populace of London, as
well as from the crown, the peers, and the commons of England, the
heartiest tribute that Britons ever paid to human greatness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account