Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-22
THE LAST OF THE GREAT
SENATOR'S.
Dying Hours Of Tom GOrWin.
1T WILL DO VERY WE'LL"

1T WILL DO VERY WE'LL.
n Especial Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette
rs WASHINGTON, December II.
ID The social party at Mr. Wetmore's, tn
f other. evening, which was destined to enc
q so tragically, was one of the pleasantes
and most brilliant assemblages of dis
tinguished Ohioans ever gathered unde
Is one roof at the Capital. The Supreme
d Court, Cabinet Senate, House, Bar anC
4 Army combined to grace the occasion
The great head of one of the three co-or
dinate divisions of our National Govern.
: meDt mingled in the crowd. Three ex.
f Governors of Ohio were for q time in q
3 little group together group (neVeri
alasl to be gathered again) that called up
, how much of the States greatness and
: historic ,renown Two ex-Secretaries OF
the Treasury were there The distinguish
ed figure of the Ohioan who battered
down Fort Sumter WAS cnnspinnnns; the
Taymaster General of the army, the Mon
itor of Maryland, the chief of staff whose
name is inseparably associated with
IChicamauga, furnished other centres in a
representation of the army beftting a
| State which has contributed half tho laad-
there whose career IS part of the nations
best history. There were old men, whose
biographies record the political life of the
State; young men who had grown up to
the responsibilities and work the older
were leaving; ornaments of the bench
and of the bar. Greetings were every
where cordial, wit and anecdote and
genial chat filed the busy air; it was
I L. -
Alumni than like gathering of many
and worldly politicians. But the wit and
anecdote were to be hushed by one of
those awful strokes which, as the greatest
of English rhetoricians said in his speech
at Bristol, Hfeelingly tell US what shadows
we are and what shadows we pursue"
OF all this brilliant assemblage plain
old lawyer, without place or power, was
the inspiring soul. Old political antagon-
lists and rivals met him with warm cor
diality; younger politicians hung upon his
words; and when they seated him in an
easy chair by the wall, half the company
clustered about to listen to the rare talk
or watch the wonderful play of his fea-
lures. With some of those present he had
risen to plane above the jealousies and
contests of their earlier years; to the
younger he had comedown as a great Ira
dition. To most, perhaps, of those pres
ent, the displays which had ranked him,
in the estimation of the generation now
passing away, but littlelower than Web
ster or Clay in intellectual grasp, and in
surprising eloquence above them hoth
were familiar only as stories their fathers
told about the ''Tom Corwin' of their af-
fection remembrance.
The writer here pauses to quote from |
that eloquent appeal for justice and right |
and freedom, Corwin's great speech in
opposition to the Mexican war, and ac-
cords high praise to his diplomacy in
Mexico
His last wol k was his wisest This done,
the worn statesman came home, seventy |
one years old, and poor He had twice |
returned with afiuence which misfortunes |
had twice snatched from him; and at last |
ne had avowed his determination to die in |
the harness. Indeed he long looked for
ward to and did not dread such an end. |
A passage from one of Sir Walter SCOTS
poems describing the last words of pat
riot Highlander, fighting against Low
land aggression, was a favorite with him,
ago to a friend:
And now, my race of terror run,
Mine be the eve of tropic sun,
IS f No pale gradatiOns quench his ray,
No twilight dews his wrath alay:
-- With disc, like battle target red, --
He rushes TO his CORY bed; - -
Dyes the red wave with bloody light,
Then sinks at once and all is night.
al am old and infrm," he said few
days ago TO Roscoe Conkling, "and in the
common way of life must soon die. Men
will remember meas a joker"
Ohioans, at least, hung about him last
Friday evening, as if his jokes were very
attractive. He was in the best of spirits, |
and looked better than his friends remem-
bered seeing him for months. But few
days before he had returned fromhis Ohio
home, where he had gone to attend the
wedding of his youngest daughter. His
faculties seemedall attuned and stimulated
by the pleasant incident, as well as by the
warm and affectionate greetings with
which he was received. Making his way
through the crowd of men who had grown
into prominence under his eye, he was
seated at the side of the room, and at once
drawn into animated talk. His old and
favorite law student, General Schenck,
came to talk of the home wedding; Chief
Justice Chase hastened to greet him; SEN
ator Ben. Wade installed himself by his
side, and begged him to tell favorite
story. 81 have not seen him for ten years
past so much like the old Tom Corwin of
my boynood," said Gen. Durbin Ward, his
law student and subsequently his partner.
There's but one Tom Corwin in the
world" enthusiastically exclaimed another,
as he moved back little, out of the group
where he had been swallowing every syl-
liable.
} By and by supper was announced. Ben.
Wade took his arm, helped him at tine
staircase and found seat for him on a
sofa. He would eat nothing-only taking
a couple of oysters and glass of water
But his flow of genial anecdote and spark
ling wit, varied now and then by one of
those touches of pathos, or one of those
suggestive and far-reaching political re-
continued with unabated brilliancy. Some
of the Ohio bellies who grace the capital
were on the other side of the room; but
even from them he drew away listeners,
till be and Wade, who sat beside him on
the sofa, were fairly hemmed in by cir
Gle that embraced half the people in the
- '
low; and men were bending down, trying
to catch every syllable.
He had been tallSirg of Brazil; and, re-
plying To --e..>o.-1--0f- -os4--SOnsuI al hIo
Janeiro, who had just been speaking to
him of Don Pedro, the Emperor, he said
Eyes, Don Pedro, I'm sure, is fine man,
what, in fact, we would call, sir, with
the indescribable epitome of all possible
likes in the sudden play of his features,)
in our country, popular man. Why, sir,
so highly do l rate his popular qualities
that If we had him in Warren county,
we'd elect him Sherif-no mean test of
popularity, sir" Then he began to speak
of Mexico, first in the same jocose vein,
telling how, when they began shooting
and cutting throats all around and within
sight of the capital, he came to the con-
clusion that the country didn't suit a gen
tleman of steady habits, and so he came
home IA Frenchman came to me
smart fellow whom Maximillian sent. He
would be so distressed if because the
French flag came, the American flag
SHOULD leave-confound his politeness
But, if had to govern Mexico under the
Empire, I'd make that Frenehman En-
peror.n From this he diverged into more |
serious talk of Mexican affairs; speaking |
with all his old fervor, gesticulating freely. |
For a few sentences his tone gradually |