The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-12
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 70, 1868.
Tbaddeus stevens.

from the peOplt, Dy tne PeVPloj ohu AOS"Ho
again to the people, are at once the masters,
servants, and representatives Of the constitu-
enoy to which they belong, and "offioe" be-
comes the lofty aim of the patriot as well as
the desire OF the ambitious man, or the sordid
prize of the covetous-at once the compliment
paid to worth, the homage to virtue, or that
f'sop" of the earth earthly, flung in contempt
to the ever-yawning jaws of the political Ger
berus. Thus the high and most truly repre-
sentative function, the grand Office OF acting
and speaking for community, and uniting in
a single individual the ampionship of the
rights, the redressor of the wrongs, and the
exponent of the principles of the entire popu-
lation Of city, county, or State has been
popularly regarded rather as the means of
acquiring higher honors than as crowning
glory in itself, and the legislative body be-
comes mere steppipg-stone to the executive,
as if executing the law We're nobler task than
making it.
High official station, even if accidentally
won or unworthily held, reflects certain dis
tinction upon the individual. The eyes of
mankind are drawn towards the figure
mounted upon the pedestal, and the very
height of the elevation, while inviting envy
and provoking criticism, compels notice and
attracts homage. The chances of Office have
made little men great by the happy accident
Of connecting their names with great events,
which they neither made uOr marred; and
many a ministerial signature, unwittingly
affixed, has crowned with glory and renown a
name appended but in due course of official
routine.
Among the few who have fully recognized
the true worth of the legislative function,
Thaddeus Stevens has stood pre6minent.
Rising above mere partisanship and all the
shifting interests of the moment he directed
the powers of great intellect to the exsmina-
ton and appreciation of our code Of laws
their origin and meaning in the past; their
relations and weight i'll the present, aud with
q bold, free spirit dared what few others
dream of doing-dared to seriously consider
their effect upon the future. Penetrating the
very spirit and intent OF the founders of our
Constitution, he years ago, bravely declared
slavery to be in dissonance with the "high
anthem of the free;'' and when the advocacy
of such doctrines threatened to even destroy
his public career, boldly and earnestly as
saulted it as the insidious foe of our national
prosperity, as the serpent gnawing at the very
roots of the tree of liberty, blighting its fair
est blossoms, and threatening it with ultimate
destruction.
Subtle intelligence and keen apprehension
make the successful politician, but to these
the Great Commoner added reliance upon
principle. He argued from the truth and
right to their inevitable results, and was thus
lifted into higher range OF thought and wider
sweep of vision than is ever vouchsafed to the
statesman who blindly devotes to "a party
what is meant for mankind;" while his firm
discrimination to work out these noble ends
prompted him to wisely maintain his oonneo-
ton with political organization rather than
to assume an independent "fanaticar' posi-
tion which would deprive him OF such sup
port.
Justly estimating the duty incumbent upon
his country, as the hberator and instructor oi
the multitudes who were seeking her as a
refuge from tyranny and oppression, Thaddeus
Stevens, at an early day, advocated the com
mon school system, when it was bitterly
opposed, even by large portion of his own
party, and to his zeal is Pennsylvania princi.
pally indebted for its early establishment aud
subsequent improvement and extension
When his life was drawing to its Close and
that protracted warfare, in which he had Sc
bravely fought, that inevitable struggle be
tween freedom and slavery, had at length
reached the bloody arbitrament of arms, ht
again braved public opinion at a most oritica
moment. For long years he had foreseen this
dreaded catastrophe, and hoping against hope
wrought zealously to bring about the destruc
ton Of the evil by wiser means; but when the
war did come, he boldly advocated its sterr
maintenance, and that the nation should freely
spend its wealth in this struggle for its life
and before the public was reused to apprehenC
the necessity of the requirement, he urged tn,
assumption Of all the Onerous burdens of th
requisite taxation, and took the responsible!
Of proposing and advocating the most un
popular form of internal revenue taxation.
Truly an American statesman, he also de
fed that false idea OF restricting the Who'll
continent to agricultural pursuits; he saw th
folly and siHfulness OF binding the young ma
tion hand and foot before commercial supre
macy of foreign powers. His clear brain mad
its way through such speciOus logic; he repu
dated the spurious ring Of Stree trade" an
demanded with unabated zeal, through all tn
fluctuations of party, legal protection to th
aIrtlI f.I do nfI l.