New-York daily tribune., 1865-11-22

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know that, in the hight o. the civil war, he, time
and again, broke down, his hi.oblc face became
weary and haggard, and nothing tut bis strong
will aud the undergrowth of gnarled manhood
that remained to his nature, prevented him
from going down to the Potomac Rivey and
seeking grave. 81 do not know" he oslce
said, "hOw this war will end; but I
| do know that, end as it NAV.
shall not long survive it," The strong man
felt his strength yielding. and his nearest
friends believed that the bullet of John Wilkes
Booth only briefly anticipated natural death.
We remember how Gen. Harrison was destroyed
by murrain of cder-suckers and coon minstrels
There is legend which Victor Hugo heard on
the Rhine, about certain wicked Bishop who
ruled in Rhineland. His crimes escaped human
punishment, but God can always reach the man
of sin SO multitude of rats came to his castle,
and gnawed through the gates, and entered his
walls, and forced his chamber. driving him from
refuge to refuge, until they caught the wretched
sinner on an island Of the Rhine and deyoured
him. The fate that befell this wicked men
seems to be ordained for all who control Office.
giving in America, and one might preach a
homily upon punishments, showing that no
punishments are so terrible as those called
fame aud power. The higher men 60, the more
they have to bear. They are Bishops of the
Rhine doomed to be deyoured by rats.
How was it with the poor Senator who
lies to-day in self-sought communion with
tho fishes of the sea He was gentleman.
None knew him but to love him-to yield i'm
perceptibly to the fascination of his frank manly
face, the clear. merry laugh the joy that never
seemed to leave his calm blue eyes. Why was
ii that'ths man, whom children came 70 with
loving instinct, and women looked upon with
tenderness-for widow nor orphan never
sought his aid in vain-was forced from very
despair, to go down to the bottom Of the
seal The rats were after him, When he
came from Washington, they caueh. his scent.
when he went to the Custom House, they
gnawed through bolt, and plank, and bar, and
the granite walls. When he went TO the Astor
House, they followed him from chamber to
chamber, from dining-room to parlor, and from
parlor to bedroom. He fed TO Oglens-
buyh, hoping for consolation and peace amid
the scenes of his youth, the fields he was wont
to plov, the rivers and lawns of his home. But
neithersteam nor lightniugcan outrun the furies,
and the rats followed him from station.to sta.
ton, and chased him from the county depot to
his county home. If death was inevitable, be
would die peacefully, and not from torture, and
so welcome the rushing river; and lest it
prove treaehcrous, and deny the peace this
sadly hunted man would have, he puts upon
his neck leaden burden, and sinks to rise no
more. The rats have lost their prey.
We find it hard-we living men-to traverse
the fearful decision that made Senator q sui
eide. If our community is so depraved as to
hunt public officials to the grave. why censure
mon of q sensitive, womSnly nature, who 20 to
the river and find peace from their importuni-
ties In It, deepneas. Stand all apart Look on
this dead msu--rest has come to him at las.-
rest from strife and crime aud selfshnesS, men
eating their fellow men,, and living like ravens
and crows on the oGal of public life. Are there
no fields 10 be TILED in the far West. no rsck-
concealed mines to be tom 10 pieces for the
gold that is IN them no' canals to he dug no
roads to be built--nothng, that this poor man
must be picked to death merely because he
il an officer OF the Revenue. He has q thousand
offices, you soy, and therefore you would clean
his bones. Shame upon us, upon our manhood,
that we cannot be men, but yermn. The guilt
of this death ia not upon the soul of he sscide.
but upon the souls of living men, upon those
who hunted him with such Gag erness and
rapacity. that life was dreary bur den, reason
fell, aud death became welcome blessing.