Vi.
The train arrived at
Boston at 7 o'clock in the evening, where the
Committee were received by
Mayor Cobb, when the coffin was placed in a hearse drawn by four horses, escorted by a mounted Guard of Honor from the First Battalion, and followed by a long line of carriages, and an immense procession, through Lincoln, Sumner, Winter, Tremont, and Park streets, to the
State House.
The bells of the city were all tolling, business was suspended, and a deep gloom had settled over the old town which had given birth to its illustrious but now departed son.
The casket was slowly borne up the steps of the
State House, and deposited on a lofty catafalque.
Forty of the
Shaw Guards, under
Major Lewis Gaul, were in charge of Doric Hall, where the catafalque had been placed.
Following the casket, came the mourners, headed by
Col. W. B. Storer, who introduced
Senator Anthony to
Gov. Washburn, when the
Senator uttered these grand, but chaste and appropriate words:
May it please your Excellency,—We are commanded by the Senate of the United States to render back to you your illustrious dead.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago you dedicated to the public service a man who was even then greatly distinguished.
He remained in it, quickening its patriotism, informing its councils, and leading in its deliberations, until, having survived in continuous service all his original associates, he has closed his earthly career.
With reverent hands we bring to you his mortal part, that it may be committed to the soil of the State, already renowned, that gave him birth.
Take it; it is yours.
[531]
The part which we do not return to you is not wholly yours to receive, nor altogether ours to give.
It belongs to the country, to mankind, to freedom, to civilization, to humanity.
We come to you with emblems of mourning which faintly typify the sorrow that dwells in the breasts upon which they lie. So much is due to the infirmity of human nature.
But, in the view of reason and philosophy, is it not rather a matter of exultation, that a life so pure in its personal qualities, so high in its public aims, so fortunate in the fruition of noble effort, has closed safely before age had marred its intellectual vigor, before time had dimmed the lustre of its genius!
May it please your Excellency,—Our mission is completed.
We commit to you the body of Charles Sumner.
His undying fame the muse of history has already taken in her keeping.
The Governor tendered to the
Committee the thanks of the
Commonwealth for the tender care of the precious dust of its Representative, assuring them that it should ever be cherished by
Massachusetts as among its most precious treasures.
The hospitalities of the
Commonwealth were then extended to the Congressional Committee, who were escorted to the
Revere House.
The crowd then retired from the
State House, the iron gates were closed, and the
Capitol of
Massachusetts was left to a night of silence and gloom.
