The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-04-08
The author of the "HrTepressibIe
Conflict

William II. Seward was the author
of the doctrine Of the ''irrepressible
conflict" between the institutions Of the
two sections which resulted in the cleo
ton of Mr.. Lincoln by the stronger par
ty on the ground that the former must
WELD to the latter, and which finally cul-
minated in the civil war with its dread
full consequences.
Appealing TO the passions Of the
multitude and arousing them TO the
highest pitch of intensity, he welded
them for the qualification of his own
ambition, and for a time rode trium-
plant upon the topmost wave of pop
ular favor He was the power behind
the throne Of the Lincoln administra-
ton, and exercised his prerogatives
remorselessly during the whole Of that
term. The prisons opened wide their
ponderous jaws at the tinkle of his
little bell, and thousands of his coun-
trymen of the North were consigned
to their gloomy walls for exercising
the right of free speech upon the great
issues that were agitating the land.
His star was at its zenith at the
death of Lincoln but linking his for
tunes to those Of Johnson, his decline
was as sudden as his rise had been
rapid. He was deserted by those who
had obsequiously followed him and
had risen upon the agitations of which
his fertile brain and active efforts were
the handspring. They not only aban-
doned him, but decried him as an apos-
tate from his creed. He became as
much an object of hate as he had for
merly been of adulation, and the
"troops of friends" who had once fol-
lowed his train re-enacted the fable of
the hounds that tore into piece-meal
the master that had fed them.
At the close Of the term Of his late
chief, solitary and alone, observed by
but few, sought by none and despised
by all, unheralded, he made his way to
bis home &C Auburn. The Indepen-
dent, the leading organ of the party
he had built up, branded him as the
" Auburn convict" and thus chroni-
cled his return:
1t is with few eyes upon him. with few
hearts in sympathy with him, and with few
thoughts stirring anybody's mind concern
ing him, that Mr.. William III. Seward has
made his final pilgrimage from civil station
to private life.
"There was time when Mr.. Seward was
the one white lily Of our American politics
the one conspicuous bearer of the banner
of freedom-the one idol of the party which
he afterward deceived and stabbed. How
this mans fine speeches used to ring in his
countrymen's ears How this mans dishon-
ored name has now become a by-word on
his countrymen's lips. Such is the tickle
ness of political fortune.
Toward Mr.. Seward, as lone aud desc
late old man, sitting in his death Swallowed
house at Auburn, our heart goes out with
an overflow of sympathy; but toward the
political trickster of two administrations,
the marplot OF both, we bear proper share
of that abiding indignation which this
treacherous politician has justly earned
from the American people,
And thus Lucifer has fallen! The
arch fend has met his fate. The aven-
ging sword has done its work. Not
all the delights OF gratifed ambition
which have turned to ashes on his lips |
viii compensate the pangs of his gull
ty conscience or dlspel the gloom of
his closing days. The wrongs of q
whole people have cried aloud for his
punishment but it would be inhuman-
ity to wish him harder fate.
We notice that several of the me m.
bers of Congress who advocated the
programme of the Committee of Five,
stated that the Constitution was
defeated because the election
was superintendent by Gen. Gillem
who is alleged to have been parsizan
Of Mr.. johnson. These members ought
to know that Gen. Mcdowell, notori-
ously a Republican and supporter OF
zen. Grant, was in command in this
State when the election was held and
that the troops which were sent here
to enforce the laws and preserve order,
were at bis disposal-not Gillem's.