The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-14 00:00:00

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oPIRIT?NrM TTATOMITINLL-Ec.

The Times remarks that the ruling principle of Mr.
Stevens's life may have shortened his days, yet it seemed
at the last to have brought some compensation with
itself ; for the man who spent all his vital power
in enforcing the objects he had at heart was apparently
able by the same agency of determination to keep
death at bay after he had grasped his victim. The
spectacle of Mr. Stevens in the Capitol thus became
almost painfully impressive His cavernous eyes and
hollow cheeks told their tale. Unable to walk to the
House of Representatives, he was equally unable to speak
for more than a minute or two at a time when taken
there. Yet he appeared day after day in his place,
and up to the last attempted to direct the course
of the debate by a brief sentence, in which he concen-
trated what he deemed the essence of the question. He
spoke in this way on the very eve of adjournment last
month ; and he persisted earlier in the session in
appearing at the bar of the Senate as one of the impeachers
of Mr. Johnson, though he was compelled by sheer
debility to abandon the attempt to read the long indict-
ment lie had prepared against the President. His leading
principle was that of equality as held by the revolu-
tionists of 1789, and it was this principle which led
him to the proposal to pay off the nation's creditors
in greenbacks, because the salaried officers and
furnishers of supplies were paid through the same medium.
He was by birth a "Green Mountain Boy," and in Ver.
mont he imbibed such little education as he ever received;
but, in truth, he never was, and probably never could
have been, a well-educated man. He was too impatient
in expression and too narrow in intelligence to receive
lessons of modeiation and comprehensiveness. Whateven
subject claimed his attention, he spoke out on it without
doubt or heiitation, and, as he never weighed his
words, he was continually convicted of inconsistency.
Stevens was fanatical, self-willed, and most bitter in his.
animosities, but there was neither meanness nor deceit in
his nature. And it must be remembered of him that be
was almost the last of a class of Americans who have left
no followers. While everything conspires to efface the
individuality of each member of the younger generation,
and they resign themselves without resistance to the limits
prescribed by party discipline, Mr. Stevens preserved his
own opinions and enforced his own will, yielding neither
to " caucus" nor to " convention " when they violated the
law of his own conscience.
The Daily News tells us that the death of Mr. Thaddeus
Stevens takes away one of the most prominent figures
from the stage of American politics. Although he had
outlived his leadership of the Republican party, and had
forfeited much of the enthusiastic confidence he once
inspired, he passes away at a time which gives almost
dramatic completeness to his political life. The period of
his greatest services has long past, and all the results of
those services have been rendered secure. The principles
for which Mr. Stevens contended with an almost
fanatical energy and zeal have been fully established
in American legislation, and the return of nearly
all the revolted States to Congress under conditions
which he did so much to shape, renders his work
tolerably complete. But Mr. Stevens was not the man
for leadership in reconciling times. He was more a revo-
lutionary leader than a statesman. He had that firm
grasp of great principles and that enthusiastic confidence
in their application which leaders of great national move-
ments always possess ; but he had none of that power to
understand and appreciate a policy other than his own,
which is so necessary to a statesman. This uncompro-
mising spirit, supported as it was by an uncon-
querable will, which for years fought death with
one hand and secession with the other, gave him
his wonderful power at the time of the war, and
was his weakness afterwards. He could not change
with circumstances, but played the crusader when
the crusade was over, and kept sounding the trumpet of
battle after the victory was won. For a year or two past
he has been the stormy petrel of politics. His weird look,
his wonderful energy in triumphing over manifest phy-
sical decay, and his excited oratory, made him the most
remarkable figure in the House of Representatives. But
his influence over legislation was but small, and his sway
over the popular mind had departed from him. His work
was done when the battle was won and the Congressional
policy firmly established, and his departure from the scenes
of his triumphs will leave a personal void, but cannot be
said to leave any important place unfilled, either in
the leadership of his party or in the counsels of the
nation.

The Standard says of him : No community ever had a
more pitiless enemy than the South found in Thaddeus
Stevens. Had he lived he might have weakened his own
friends by his " greenback " policy:—the South he could
scarcely have brought lower. General Butler is the nearest
approach to him in character, and he will probably par-
tially cccupy Stevens's place. His life extended back to
the first of the Presidents—sixteen of them he saw come
and go. Whether he left any records of his experiences
behind him we know not, but of late years he was unable
to write much. He had few friendships; but being tho-
roughly cynical, lie cared nothing for the enmities which
constantly sprang up beneath his feet. Altogether he has
left a memorable mark upon the history cf his country,
and it is for posterity to decide whether the later actions
of his life were for good or evil.

The Telegraph compares Mr. Stevens with his asso-
ciates. Charles Sumner was a man of far higher culture,
but he lacked the fire of his well-known colleague, and his
influence was weakened by constant exhibitions of a
feminine irritability and vanity. Butler commanded no
personal respect, and was regarded even by his friends
as a ruffian and a jobber. Wade was deemed, rightly

or wrongly, to be personally greedy of power. But at
cynical Stevens none of these charges could be levelled.
There was something grand in the very ferocity of
his anger. He hated the Southerners as Cato did
the Carthaginians, as William 111. hated the French.
Their friends were his enemies, their foes his friends.
Extreme old age, failing strength, and mortal pain never
softened the fury with which he bunted President Johnson
down from the hour of his defection. He was neither
good, nor wise, nor generous ; but in his time he did signal
service, and, with all his faults, we may apply to him the
famous phrase " that was a man." With his death we
may fairly expect wiser counsels to prevail in the Republi-
_

can party. It is clear, by the selection of Grant as the
Republican candidate, that the era of extreme men and

revolutionary measures has passed away ; and with the
failure of the impeachment trial Stevens himself felt
that his day had ended.
The Post says that Sir William Hutt at Gateshead anti
Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer at Tamworth have given us
each from his particular point of view a Liberal manifesto
of considerable value, as shewing the tendencies of the
rank and file of the party which expects to be in the ascen-

dancy upon the meeting of the next Parliament. Sir

William, an old and tried politician, who has been tried

in many positions and acquitted himself well in
all of them, but who has now made up his- mind
" that nothing whatever" shall again tempt him to

undertake the " fatigue and irksome responsibilities
of office," speaks to us almost as a voice from the political
tomb—and with so much the more authority, of course—
in the language of warning and friendly admonition, to

bid us be wise in time ; while Sir Henry Buiwer, a
fresher and more ardent politician, addresses us in the

language of hope, generosity, and faith in the future.

Differing in their manner of presenting things, and
apparently also in their estimates of the relative

importance to be attached to each of them, they

yet are found upon the same road, travelling
towards the same end, and will, it may be predicted,

never be found in different lobbies in the Parliament
where it is to be hoped they will soon meet.

Sir William Hutt attaches himself more especially to the

party aspect of public affairs, and produces with consi-
derable force the considerations which make in favour of

;he party with which he is identified. He strongly advo•

cstes the total abolition of the Irish Church Establish-
ment. Sir Henry Bulwer agrees with Sir William Hutt
upon this main question of policy, and we need not there-
fore repeat the arguments in its favour ; but he goes more
into general politics, and is especially strong upon the
status and claims of the people at large, of whom so many
have now become electors. He is a strong advocate for
the ballot as a necessary defence to the dependent classes
now admitted to the franchise, and in a sound speech he
has placed in a new and strong light the national
advantages he expects from their admission.
The Herald draws attention to the change of tone in the
Times on the rumoured appointment of Lord Mayo to
India, and reminds its contemporary that the time is past
for it to exercise any exceptional influence in this matter.
A stronger pressure is brought to bear upon it since it dis.
cussed the subject, the result, no doubt, of a party move.
India wants a nobleman, and she wants a statesman—one
p eAr i enndc eh,e
rand i
et
ehreoyi nssltlionueltds
baendnoltiaobnitlys ofa
awdit o n
l
a of rai I.ut one with the conventional attributes of
iffisjaiatilmeex
1 Jrder ; ‘..no will personally command respect, and be
recognised everywhere as the man that he is. She
requires a safe man, who has no prejudices in the way
suasions, which are the first difficulties that her ruler
of policy, nel who will be superior to partisan per.
has to encounter. Had Lord Auckland possessed
this apparently negative, but in practice very active
quality, we should never have had the Affghan war,
which first lr.oke down our prestige in India and prepared
the way ft r :hi mutinies. A Viceroy should have popular
inenliers 8 c primary qualification. Had Lord Canning
re s iesseil t lis gift, he would have had the good-will of
tlics3 about him, and been able to understand the out-
b fuutl doubtless,fitthis
sanisd purtnel
sltettliyhl
eetahrpoeira conditionsmhoe unitdwo
fbh
break months before he did, with the result perhaps of
averting Lail the calamities which came upon the country.
11,
ave
has generally been dispensed with alto.
Six
jilsto local
mivnooseutLxi
difficult
iewffirbri
ceee
unnl
lvcce tee
it
gether. Even experience in the department at home is
not always available, or, .if available, not always a guna•
rantee of efficiency. Men of far less administrative expo.
rience and personal advantages than Lord Mayo havi
ruled India, and the Herald thinks he will make a
uouular Viceroy, • - •

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THEATRE ROYAL, HA YMARKET.
Sole Lessee, Mr. Buckstone.

THIS EVENING, HAMLET. Prince of Perim irk, Mr.
Pennington; Ghost, Mr. H. Marston; Polonius, M, Ryder:
Ophelia, Miss Leigh; Messrs. Nanton, Johnstcre D Lltou, W
Ryder, Nelson, Weaver, Holland, L. Ball; Mrs. E. F. 6aville,
Miss Berend, tc.
Preceded by, at 7, THE INTRIGUE.
Commence at Seven.

lIEATRE ROYAL, ADELPIII.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. WEBSTER.
Directress, Mrs. Alfred Mellon.
TIIIS EVENING, at 7, A ROUGH DIAMOND. Messrs. G.
Belmore, Ashley; Mrs. Billington, and Miss Lennox Gray.
A a quarter to Eight, THE FLYING SCUD. Messrs. G.
Belmore, Billington, Ashley, J. G. Taylor, C. H. Stephenson,
C. J. Smith; Vies Charlotte Saunders, Miss Louisa Moore, M iss
Maria Harris, and Miss Lennox Grey.
To conclude with THE FAST COACH. Messrs. J. G. Taylor,
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ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Vining.
THIS EVENING, at 7. POOR PILLICODDY.
After which (at 8 o'clock), Dion Boucicault's new drama, in
four acts, entitled AFTER DARK, a Tale of London Life.
Messrs. Vining, Walter Lacy, Dominick Murray, H. T. Montague,
J. G Shore; Miss Tressy Marston, and Miss Rose Leclereq.
Entirely new Scenery by Mr. F. Lloyds an-I assistants.
To conclu le with NO. 1, ROUND THE CORNER.
Doors open at half-past 6, commence at 7. Box-office open
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ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs Swauborough.
TA IS EVENING, at 7.30, SISTERLY SERVICE: Messrs.
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After which, THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD.
Messrs. Thorae, James, and Robson; Mesdames Sheridan,
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To conclude with MARRIAGE AT ANY PRICE.

rtOYAL AMPHITHEATRE AND CIRCUS,
HOLBORN.
ONRA, every evening, in his lelying Trapeze Act, as performed
before their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of \Vales
on Thursday last, amidst the most deafening applause. The
most brilliant success ever achieved by any artiste.

ONR A'S Terrific Flights on Two Bars.
0 'RA's Incredible Somersaults and Pirouettes.
ONRA, the most wonderful and perfect performer ever
witnessed.
"A remarkable performer on the flying trapeze, whose extra-
ordinary achievements unquestionably surpass those of Leo-
tar I."—Daily Telegraph.
" Onra in his performance on the flying trapeze, after the man-
nor of Leotard, far outdoes the efforts of that celebrated artist.."
—Morning Advertiser,
A more genuine and flattering reception we have never wit-
nesiel."—Stanlard.

Tao incomparable Scenes in the Arena as usual, including M.
Samwell's wonderful performing Dogs.

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