The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-01-20
death Of John Tyler.

Death Of John Tyler.
SATURDAYS telegraph hers!ded through
the South che most affecting Intelligence
il has borne sines the birth OF our
new Re,ub,;e 1t announced the demise OF a
great aud good man, whom our people iove''
venerated, and trusted, probably TO an extent
greater than any of her statesmen. Ii ever
country or canse could boast its representa-
tive man" surely here was the person to
whom the South could point as hers. not only
ms presenting an admirable type Of the South
ern gentleman in all the domestic and social
relations OF that beautiful character, but az q
statesman 50 imbued with the instincts and
principles of Southern politics, that none ever
could or ever did doubt for moment, in any
public emergency or al any crisis, where
John Tyler stood
Long connected with pablo ahairs, and
minghng in the strifes OF parties and the con-
tentions of men, he never lost his character
ar incurred All instants suspicion as a Ssate'
Rights man. His father before him, one OF
the wsest and most honored of the Revolu-
tiomary sages, had signalized his devotion to
State independence by voting i'll the Virginia
Convention Of I9SS with that large, that I'M
mortal majority, which resisted the ratihca.
ton of the Federal Constitution-not that he
opposed the scheme of Union, but that he dis.
trusted the na,ionalisn. which lay covert in
that instrument, and which, as we have since
found, by It's silent machina.ions has under
mined the power of more than half the States.
and now, throwing of all disguise, is with
terrible tloodthirstiness seeking, by armiesan
coniiecations, TO sublugate the rest
Indootrinated by the teachings of so illus
trlous and 80 wise progenitor, and faithful
to his golden tenets, Mr.. Tylers lie has been
barometer. III some sort, of the vicissi-
tudes of State Rights politics in the country
Fidelity III that line Of politics, would now
seem, IN retrospect, 10 have been the essential
condition of consistency AUD of lasting politi
cal success III the public men OF the South,
and he may DO considered "a fortunate man
Whose antecedents and surroundings i'll youth,
embarked him III that straight and harrow
path TO Office, TO honor, ana 10 renown.
Ii WAS her fidelity to the State Rights cause
which long gave Virginia SO large control
IN the affairs of the late Union and those of
her sons who have adhered 10 these princi
pies most faithfully, like herself, through evil
and through good report, have been the men
most successful, and TO the vulgar eye,
most fortunate, in their public life. Mr.. Iy-
Ter WAS Il distinguished illustration OF this
truth. At al early age he had received from
Virginia The highest mark of her consdera-
ton, in his election as Governor OF
the Commonwealth after which, he was
promoted by being delegated AS one of her
ambassadors, March H. 1877 to the Senate OF
the United States. In this body he faithfully
maintained hi, political consistency, even
through the trying ordeal of General Jack
sons Administered ion aud irresistible popular
iiy.
To the MEASURES Of that popular chief
tain infringing the rghts Of the States he OPP
posed consistent resistance, never with pas
sion and anger, always with iirmness and
dignity. One single extract from his great
speech against the Force Bill will illustrate
the whole tenor of this opposition: " Since |
have held place on this floor have not
courted the smiles of the Executive; but
whenever he had done any act in violation of
the constitutional rights of the citizen. or
trenchiDg upon the rights Of the Senate, |
have been found in opposition to him. When
ne appointed corps Of editors to office,
thought 1t was my duty to oppose his course.
When he appointed a minister TO foreign
court without the sanction of the law, | also
went against him, because, on my conscience,
believed that the act was wrong. Such was
my course, acting as l did, under sense Of
the duty owed to my constituents and
Will now say, care not how loudly the trum-
pet may be sounded, nor how low the priests
may bend their knees before the object Of
their idolatry, will be at the side of the
President, crying in his ear, Remember,
Philip, thou art mortal" His own State was,
unfortunately, at one time not so true to her
creed as her servant; and on her instructing
him to cast vote, of immaterial Importance in
itself, but indirectly rebuking the conduct of
State Rights Senators, we allude, of course. to
Bentons Expungirg Resolutions, he resigned
his appointment, in February, 1886, and re-.
tired to private life.
He did not again emerge into public view
until his nomination in 1910 by the Wing
party as their candidate for the Vice -Presi-
dency, i'll conjunction with Gen. Harrison for
the Presidency. The success of that party in
that memorable campaign would have sub
iected 80 thorough Staterights man as Mr..
Tyler to no embarrassment if events had per-
United him to remain in the office to which he
had been chosen. But the lapse of little more
than month brought him into very different
relations to the country, and to the party
which had placed him in power. Those mem.
bers OF that party who are unable TO lift their
minds out OF the ruts of old and obsolete
preJudices, and to shake off, in the new exist
ence into which We have entered, the crust
and rotten garments of the grovelling and
grub-worln partisanry in which our Southern
people once fretted crawled. and quarrel He'd,
may be unable to look upon Mr. Ter as any
other than traitor to the Wing party but
the vast many of our genuine Southern peo-
pie, interpreting the past by the lurid lights
of the present, now excuse his conduct, in
whatever any of them might have thought it
blameabie, TO his acknowledged and approved
State Rightism- In respect to the particular
matter IN which he go deeply offended the
political party which had placed him in.
power, his refusal to approve the character
OF Federal National Bank; there is NO
Southern member of that party who will
hot now accord to his conduct the most
heartfelt approval.
AND, truly, II we look away from the par
uash aspects of his administration that of John
iyier was one OF the most illustrious that has