The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-13
The Late Thaddeus Stevens.
n the N. Y. World of this morning.

1fTOn1 tne ~. " WOfLu OF UtS morning..
This remarkable man, who had all the intole-
rance of the radicals without their hypocritical
can't is more favored in the opportuneness of
his death than in the beneficence of his life. He
had attained an over-ripe old age; and although
the indomitable audacity of his spirit left him
only with his parting breath, his intellect and
his ascendancy in his party have been declining
for the last year or two. The policy to which
he was devoted was eoolng as as manitestiy res yaad ana
Its cradle and gave II his affections, IL Is mercy
to him that he did not survive q few months
longer, to follow It's hearse
tion unsupported by reasons Mr.: Stevens
He had the thick-skinned, invuinerable
audacity, the contempt of cant, the directness
ible will. the parliamentary tact, 10 strike
boldly and at once for what his party vaguely
tempt of the decorum due to the President. con.
tempt of ordinary and settled forms, contempt
Of the eGntempt 9 OF eVeTyt6lag
tempt even of the weak willed members who
dreaded the lash Of his sarcastic tongue. this
acrid contempt and the audacious assumption OF
superiority which made 1t possible, were The
master qualifications which enabled Mr.. Ste
vens to act, with signal success, the greatly
misehievous part of leader of the Thirty. ninth
Congress at the beginning OF its first session,
and to secure for all time name In his coun-
The occasion required more than prompt.
WouId not o do to d. wait for the Prssident's mes:
sage and see what he had to say In defense OF
his policy. 1t would not do TO nave the ques
action. Everything depended upon what was
done during the first hour Of the session; 1t
committed in advance to a cause which would
promptly checkmate the President before he
can members was held, In which Mr. stevens
was the ruling spirit-that eminence being con-
Seded 10 MN because ne haa she 20 ao
nobody else could have administered party dis
SSiP1pe .fsI With SO as and 6at pes
would sanction his policy. The result
was that when Congress came together
despot. He had c6alked out programme in
the caucus, and in carrying 1t out his will was
Sst.e. ESersbody w felt that That S conjunotare % S
was crisis-a great turning point in the policy
absolute because he had a will, when other men
had only wishes; plan, when other Opponents
and the capacity of leadership, when none of
his confederates burst take the responsibility
and hazard of conducting the party they knew
not whittier. Had he been q man of more wis.,
dom or less audacity, he would never have uu-
dertaken such part; but the ascendancy he
acquired by his success enabled him to domt-
ueer over Congress for a long time afterwards.
There was never anything else in Mr.. Ste
N rendered beyond the generation in which he
ii Ved Hi d he died at the age of seventy three.
"a, Ia Nked considerably below many of the men
VIII, ; served with him in Congress. A public
Eavi ug accomplished anything remarkable, is
more indebted to accident than abilities II ne
afLerN sIus sst "U,tSiy vi re
the M uure age of tftyslx, and served four
years uhVue "eIsnG VI uisUlnotlon; hou yeaCs
later wa seleSted again, anu nts continueu 70 oe
Te.electe, Durlng the war ne Was VIZ. eaHiI . nan M
Sncb yUas the recognized leader OF the House.
Some OF hi Lotlohs were 80 Hiuue ~ ds
TO make hi. pI1 M S us
~ o. hy ne, lal legislation. The most import
az Ppt h,iiSS ~ Irai orted by his committee were
Snt Stnt,ht III fory9, nd and planned by other mem
pIous Mr. So, yuldng reporting the first hve-
DeIsi thiI "a nd Mr.. Hooper the second. Mr.
s.eve9s was thu foremost advocate Of connsca.
Stevens 60 anil lied TO the chief credit OF that
Lol' an nd eSasn. rating measure.
Mr Stevens In, elect was narrow, his infor.
mato limited bis Ses 0 S GSsoaesg; sS9 ON.
" MIIIiI rI .,ar and incis We and were marked by
nirsyctne1s and consis tenoy borrowed from his
M oral hErRcter, he EVorneu ueoelI anu oanV