The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-12-21

news OF the death OF IhoAAs OohWlN. n
''prince and a great man has fallen" The
great men of the country gather about the
dead and vie with each other in extolling his
worth and massive ability while living.
Since 1s40 he has been known to the entire
nation as Americas most effective popular
orator-unequaled in that peculiarly Amer
lean style of oratory called "Stump speak
ing He made his greatest reputation in the
speaking had reached its highest develop
ment and had enlisted the finest intellec,s of
both parties. Mr.. CoRwis's great rival and
competitor, Gov. RRouGH, preceded him into
''the Land unseen" by very few months,
1t is one of the political phenomena of the
times-a phenomena so frequent since the
commencement of the late war-that Mr..
CoEwrN and Gov. BRoucH had been melted
into political unity in the crucible of National
peril, and both have died members of the
Union party.
THOMAS CoRwN was born in Bourbon
county, Kentucky, July Goth, 1884 In 1898
his father removed to Warren county, Ohio.
In 1912 Thomas, then seventeen years old,
served as a teamster in our little frontier
army, and earned the title of ''the Wagner
Boy" by which, In after life, he was called.
In the following year he so injured his leg
while driving his team, as to unfit him for
physical labor. The little schooling he bad.
mad previously, now fitted him for intense
application to books, and in short time,
though selfmade scholar, he vas "a ripe
and good one
In 1916 he commenced the study of the
law. In 1917 was admitted to the bar. He
was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1922.
Again in 1929. In 1880 he was elected 10
Congress, and to each successive Congress
until 1910, when he resigned to become
Governor of Ohio, by an unprecedented
majority In lS44 was State Elector on the
Clay ticket. The same year was elected to
the United States Senate. Served until 1850,
when he became Secretary of the Treasury
under MI FILLMORE. From 1853 to 1858 he
practiced his profession. He was then elected
to Congress, and subsequently by Mr.. LIN
colin appointed our Minister to Mexico,
whence he returned short time previous to
his death.
The analysis ofhis eloquence and his varied
powers, as well as the tribute to his merits,
we submit as made By others. When in the
zenith of his power the american Rerie,c thus
spoke of him:
Gas apublic speaker, Mr.. CoRwIy is gifted far
above the ordinary standard of parliamentary
experience. His manner is perfectly self-pos
sessed his thoughts flow forth in the most In
cid forms; his language is in the purest taste
always strong, though frequently in high
degree erratic In all his efforts, whether Of
the more elaborate or of the lighter kind, be
fixes attention in the outset, and holds it un
broken to the end. 1t is evidently one of the
secrets of his power that he knows when ht
has exhausted a subject, and where to stop
He is SO clear in his conceptions, and exact il
his arrangement of them, that he never re
peats himself; and hence never offends, as d.
many of the best speakers, by occasional in
dications of want of thorough understandin.
of their own minds.
''In the mixed walks of eloquence, wher
under the excitement of great subject, ant
grand and responsible occasion for the dis
eussion of it, Mr.. CoRwIy often exhibits pow
moments of intense strength, in which h
seems to rise, unconscioqsly, high above hi
own ordinary level, and to WELD with almos
superhuman power, the grandest thoughts
setting them forth in the sublimest images, ,an'
clothing them in the the most beautiful form
of speech. On occasions QAt properly admi
of the application of the highest powers o
wit his efrcrts are unrivalled. His quick per
ceptun of the weak points of an adversary
position, and, il open to ridicule, his read
association of them with the most grotesqu
forms of exposure, give often, even to HI
grave speeches, force and influence whicl
the severest logic would utterly fail to give
The amable and gentlemanly temper, more
over, with which he exerts these high an
even dangerous powers, saves him from a
hazard of giving personal offence in the az
plication Of them, and it is proverbially sal
of him, that the object Of his satire is usual
among the most entertained ofthose who lis
ten to 1t. The treat is too rich to be quar-
relied with even by the victim whom it wou
annihilate.
but, after all, the most striking and capt
waiting feature in his speaking is that he al
lows no doubt in his auditory of the entir
sincerity Of what he is saying. 1t is a ma
uttering great and important truths under tn
impulses of deep conviction, and not ner
declaimer or advocate who produce effect 70
an occasion. And this great feature of MI
j.. CoRwIss speaking, which stands out 8
prominently in. every speech he makes, n
matter what the audience, the place, or tn
occasion, is the necessary result Of that sell
culture which, in his habituAl studies, keep
the watches cf an honest and conscientiou
heart in constant company with the labors G
q clear, serene, and selfpoised mind"
Years ago the brilliant pen of GEORGE D
PRENTICE, paid him the following eulogy
"a leading feature of Mr.. CoRwIx's charae
ter is devotion to truth; and he follows he
paths with the enthusiasm, the spirit and tn
fortitude of a martyr. In the worship of tina