Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1853-08-04

lie career
What then, shall say to you, who have
known him; TO you, who have been the witness
os Of his life TO you, who have esteemed him
beyond all other men to you, who feel that you
have lost more than father or a friend, lost
both-lost oil I can only say, it is fit now for
you to weep. Grief is the necessary burden Of
this day, and Of many days, for you bu, when
the fountains Of your tears shall fail,-when
You shall have become weary and worn be
cause Of your great gretchen will it be fit for
you to reioice-aye, to rejoice, that one has
lived, so briefly yet so well, and so honorably,
so unremittingy, and so successfully labored in
important services for his nsghborhood, his state
and his country-that you feel that his death is
an irreparable loss and public calamity
Weep, now. 1t is good to weep.
Ny connection, in an official capacity, with
Gov. Paine, and my relations to him personal
ly, from the commencement of the great public
work on which he had siaked his highest hopes,
and to which feel that he has now sacrificed his
life, am aware viii seem to justify you in OK
pecting that something will be said to-day on
that topic. The occasion is eminently proper
one to do justice to his services and character
in that respect, and you well know that would
gladly contribute my mite towards this: but |
too well understand that no Just verdict of pub
lie opinion can now be taken. Eminently sue
cessful as that work has already been, in the
point which hesitate not to say was altogether
the chief one in the estimation Of Gov Pane--
mean, in facilitating intercourse, aud thus de-
veloping the resources and adding to the wealth
and power and influence Of the people through
out the vast territory which feels the effects
Of all the railroads that have grown out Of the
establishment Of the Vermont Central, and which
were embraced in the calculations of its founders
i say, although in this point the work has been
omuenty successful, and is worth the immense
SUN ii has cost, it is nevertheless true that in
another and less important particular, the work
is regarded as being emnently disastrous, and
the responsibility naturally is, and must be for
time, cast upon him who was the acknowledged
chief of the undertaking. How far that respon-
sib lily justly attaches to him, is a question
which remains to be decided and however ia
vorable my opinion may be to his future fame,
and however confident my expectations, | know
that an expression Of the opinions and expecta-
tons of any FRIEND of Gov Paine, in advance Of
IA full and true history of his administration,
will avail nothing in the settlement of that
question. can say but little, therefore, upon
this subject and that must be limited 10 a simple
testimonial to his character and purposes, which,
from intimate connection and free intercourse
wsh him from the Beginning, ! feel to be entire
TgsAist and fully due to him on this occasion.
fsts ambition in that great undertaking was of
a eti9acter which the world Justly esteems to be
ussie he aimed to win for himself an houora-
bIcpublic name by rendering great public
service. However much Of direct personal ad-
vantage he naturally and properly may have ex-
pected from it, am sure that his chief purpose
was to win an honorable name. In the brightest
days, he looked joyully for this reward and in
the darkest, when every other hope seemed to
fail, this remained to solace him 1t was on one
Of these darkest days, and az time when co,r-
age, hopes and health we're all failing, that he
said to me in his familiar mode Of conversations:
Well, Walton, whatever may become Of the
corporation, they cannot rob us Of The road -
1t is doue,-i will be run,-and the people
viii at any rate reap the blessings which
we designed Oh if It was no, for that, real
ly believe | should die"
This honorable ambition absorbed him, and
he looked to the result as certain, because he
never had doubt that the developed resources
Of the state, and the opening Of avenues Of COM
municaton through the whole of The Northern
section Of the Union, would render the enter
terpnze in every sense successful. So no sacri-
fee seemed to him too large, no cost too great,
no haste too urgent if so be il appeared essen
tial either to speedy completion Of the under.
taking, or TO secure for ! important advantages,
present or ultimate, within ms reach. say al
innate advantages, for Gov. Pane was man Of
large views, and his eye was oitenor cast far
ahead upon some great eninonce, through tolls
and perlls to be achieved, than upon the quiet
landscape at his feet. lie was more apt TO dis
Germ great things and design great works, than
to mark out the thousand little details, which ALL
however humble each in itself may be, are
essential TO the perfection and beauty Of the
whole structure. Ofthe ultimate success of this
enterprise he had no doubt and when present
difficulties and pressing demands seemed APP
paling to those who had not estimated future
results he 1altered himself that the end would
in the judgment of all, be for him perfect JUS
thcation. Associates, some Of them, equally
sangune with HIMSELF and influenced perhaps
by his high hopes, were not the best advisers for
him under these circumstances and doubtless
from this source as from other sources for
which Gov. Paine was far less responsible, if
responsible at all, grew errors of Judgment
Himself placing the highest estimate upon the
enterprise as a public work, deserving the sup
port Of the pubic himself confident in its sue
cess--so confident that be more than once stalk
ed his fortune upon it, by his personal obliga-
tons and by using for it all his available means
he perhaps too strongly trusted that there were
enough of other men, with equally enlarged
views and larger means, who would be as conf
dent and as liberal as himself Himself man
of integrity, he too much confded in the integ
rty of others. There was, too, the rivalry Of
competing lines and the difficulty of conflicting
interests, both local and arge-all tending to
exasperate the feelings and bias the Judgment