It was a
keen and striking face; the forehead bespoke intellect and high resolve;
the jaw and chin indomitable; aggressive bravery. Over all there was a
stamp of sadness and of loneliness that caught one's heart. Friends,
political compatriots and erstwhile enemies paid David Broderick a final
tribute as they passed; few without a twitching of the lips. Tears ran
down the faces of both men and women. The crowd murmured. Then the
splendid moving voice of Colonel Baker poured forth an oration like Mark
Anthony above the bier of Caesar:
"Citizens of California: A Senator lies dead.... It is not
fit that such a man should pass into the tomb unheralded;
that such a life should steal, unnoticed, to its close. It is
not fit that such a death should call forth no rebuke...."
His majestic voice rolled on, telling of Broderick's work, his
character, devotion to the people. He assailed the practice of duelling,
the bitter hatreds of a slave-impassioned South. His voice shook with
emotion as he ended:
"Thus, O brave heart! we bear thee to thy rest. As in life no
other voice so rung its trumpet blast upon the ear of
freemen, so in death its echoes will reverberate amid our
valleys and mountains until truth and valor cease to appeal
to the human heart.
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