The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-08-21
Onr Grent Commnner.
I'VE can add nothing to the follow

1 lived long enough to see the closing
conflict Of the struggle, and to know
that the end was sure; but his eyes
were not suffered To see the full bright
ness of the final triumph that even now
approaches. Yet he fell as he had
wished, with his armor on; to the last
he fought the good fight and kept the
/ faith snccls s7iis tl Pa osds -'e551 a.
Since John Randolph's, there has not
been such andeatb. Since Henry Clay
| breathed out his life at Ashland, so
much actual power over the politics Of
the country has not vanished with the
breath of single weak old man.
j There have been wiser statemen
among US than Thaddeus Stevens.
There have been men of purer lives.
There have been more graceful writers,
more eloquent speakers But in the
grace of q pure purpose, in the elo-
quences ofss whole-hesrted devotion, in
the wisdom of a craftsmanship that
might err as to means, but never as to
mobility of aims, he has been without
superiors; in lofty courage, an antique
Roman fidelity, and iron purpose, he
has been without equal,
What a space this old man who, at
midnight last night, quietly and peace
fully sank to rest on Capitol lIill,
within sight Of the scene of his services
and his triumphs, has filed ia the
crowded history Of the country, we
cannot now hope to outline. How
through the war, he was one of the
brsveSt and most hopeful of those who
never despaired, and in the darkest
hours had the highest hopes of the
Republic, how he held up the hands
of those who were ready to faint, and
infused his own courage and faith into
the Government; how clearly he saw
from the beginning the vital points of
the struggle; with what sublime trust
he declared that the war could end
only in the freedom of the slaves, and
with what relentless purpose he drove
a reluctant party to emancipation as
the only means of securing success;
what fervor Of religious geal he brought
into the contest and how solemnly he
believed that he was doing Gods
work in pushing the war against the
rebellion to the uttermost; all this Is
written in the imperishabIe records of
the Government in the hearts of the
race he helped to hbsrate, and in the
grateful memory of the people he
helped to save. a'.
Not less clear are the throDging rec
ollections of his later and still higher
services. His was the piercing vision
that penetrated the dangers of john
sons reeonstFuetionI his the inexora-
bic viii that forced the Republican
party into the refusal to admit at once
to power in Congress the rebels just
conquered in the field, his warning
voice that amid the -confusions and
cowardiee of the hour, proclaimed |
that there was no safety for the white
Union men in the South save in doing
justice to the black Union men of the
South, and no SECURITY for the nation
until it learned to rule righteoqsly.
Others did their full share. It was
a noble struggle, and every soldier in
that war deserves the highest praise,
but it is injustice to none, not even to
Charles Simmer to say that through
the whole contest for Reconstruction
on basis of justice 10 all Thaddeus
Stevens was the pioneer When a
President at last seemed
likely to plunge the country in civil
war rather than permit the completion
Of the beniieent work, the old man
now on the brink of the open
grave that yawned before him, was
till the clearest sighted, highest heart L
ID, most fearless and most resolute. s
He led in the demand for impeachment
ed in driving it through the House
md pressing it on the Senate, and with !
manner worthy of his last great per- |
ormance, delivered the ablsst argu-
nent made for the conviction Of the
Executive.
OF his earlier achievements we can
lot speak. He was a native of Gale
lonia county, Vermont, where he was
,orn in April, 1892. AT twenty-five !
le was graduate Of DARTMOUTH, and
IN emigrant to Pennsylvania. He
aught an academy. and while thus
himself studied law.
there he built up great practice,
nd came to be known as the most !:
uecessful and cynical lawyer of that
art of Pennsylvania. ls1 He was
lready past the prime of man
Iood, whenin 1888, he entered the Leg
stature of Pennsylvania. There he
emained with intervals of two or three
srms, until lS4I-having meantime :
arved also in the State Constitutional
aud having already won ).
aud, for the time uuenvi-
ble attention by his devotion to the !
Iual rights of all, he entered the
r
Iirty-ffst Congress, was, reelected to :
le thirty-second, then remained at :
ONE for three terms; then, as the :
1ti-slavery movement began to take =
.ngible form, retarned to the thirty =
xth, and thencef0rward remained y
,ldief enlisted for the war, till, at :
idnight last night-after career as Z
and fame as noble as any y
on on our battle-felds-he received y
IS discharge. Peace to his ashes; to =
s faults charity; to his memory y
lmortal honor. bis da jaaes''i y
The accident which caused the death al
Wau-ne-pe-wink-a (the Iudian PHn- fu
IS, at La Crosse, WISCONSIN, is mar W
ted as follows; She was standing sh
the railway depot With her two ba
tberless children, waiting the arrival F.
the train. One of the little ones got vi
ion the track. Seeing its danger, re
g mother, regardless of her own life, b
rang forward and snatched the pr
lid from the very jaws of death
ne threw the little one upon the plat
nm, but it was too late to save her %
If The rushing locomotive caught al
II blanket and threw her upon the ms
ick the wheels caught her foot, and IN: