Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-08-19


is dead. As he once predicted would
be his lot, he was taken up into a
mountain and shown the besuty of the
land, but was not permitted to enter
in. He 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
brightness 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.
Since John Randolph's, there has
not been such a death. 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 asingle weak old man.
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 a pure purpose, in the elo-
quence of a whole hearted devotion. in
the wisdom of q craftsmanship that
might err as to means, but never as to
nobility OF aims, he has been without
superiors ; in lofty courage, an antique
Roman fidelity, and iron purpose he
has been without an equal.
What a space this old man who, at
midnight last night, quietly and peace
fully sank to rest on Capitol Hill,
within sight of the scenes of his ser
vices and his triumphs, has filed in
the crowded history OF the country, we
can not hope TO outline. How, through
the war, he was one of the brayest and
most hopeful of those who never de-
SPARED, 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 his own faith into
the Government; how clear 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 mesns of securing success +;
what fervor of religious zealh he brought
into the contest, and how solemnly he
believed that he was doing Gods work
in pushing the war against the rebel
lion to the uttermost all this is written
in the imperishable records of the
Government, in the hearts of the race
he helped to liberate, and in the CRATE
full memory of the People he helped
to save.
Not less clear are the tkronging rec
objections of his later and still higher
services. His was the piercing vision
that penetrated the dangers of John
son'sreconstruction his the memorable
will that forced the Republican party
into the refusal to admit at once to
power in Congress the rebels Just con-
quered in the field; his the warning
voice that, amid the Commissions and
cowsrdice of the hour, proclaimed that
men of the South save in doing justice
to the black Union men of the South,
and no security for the nation till it
learned TO rule in righteousness.
Others did their full share. 1t was
a noble struggle, and every soldier in
that war deserves the highest praise,
but it is in Justice to none, not ever to
Charles Sumner, to say that through
the whole contest for q Reconstruction
on the basis of justice 10 all, Thaddeus
Stevens was the pioneer. When q
faithless President, at the last, seemed
likely to plung the country in civil war
rather than permit the completion of
the benifeient work, the old man, tot
tering now on the brink of the open
grave that yswned before him, was
still the cIearest sighted, highest heart
ed, most fearless and most resolute.
He led in the demand for impeach
ment, led in driving it through the
House and pressing it on the Senate,
and with q worthy of his last
great performance, delivered the ablest
made for the conviction of
the Executive.
Of his earlier achievements we can
speak. He was a native of Gale
donna county, Vermont, where he was
born in April, 1892. At twenty-five he
was q graduate of Dartmouth, and an
emigrant to Pennsylvania. He fought
academy, and while thus support
ing himself, studied law. Then he
built up q great practice, and came to
be known as the most successful and
cynical lawyer of that part of Pennsyl-
vania. He was already past the prime
of manhood, when, in 1888, he entered
the Legislature of Pennsylvania
There he remained, with intervals of
two or three terms, until 184l-having
meantime served also in the State
Constitutional Convention, and having
already won conspicuous and, for the
time, unenviable attention by his de-
yotion to the equal rights of al. He
entered the thirty-irst Congress, was
reelected to the thirty-second, then
remained at home for three terms;
then as the anti slavery movement be-
gan 10 take tangible formss returned to
the thirty-sixth, and thenceforward
remained a soldier enlisted for the war,
till, st midnight last night-after q
career as wonderful and a fame as no
BILE as any won on our battle-helds-
he received his discharge Peace TO
his ashes; to his faults charity TO his
memory immortal honor.-CfHci"nat
E1-sffe.