Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-12-30

REVIEW OF HIS CHARACTER ny COL. FoRNE1
WASHINGTON, December &c, 1869.

A REVIEW OF HIS CHARACTER ny COL. F0RNEY.
WASHINGTON, December &c, 1862
1t Is easy to write of soldier whose
deeds have filled the gazettes and inspired
| the orator, or of the statesman whose
| speeches have crowded the pages of contem-
| poraneous history but who can do Justice
to a life that was one long experience Of
hard work, unrelieved by u published record
| and unexplained by necessary self-vindi-
cation2 When William Ii. Seward is called
away, his blographer will be embarrassed by
! the riches of his mental products; by his
elaborate messages as Governor Of New
York; by his elaborate arguments as Sen
ator in Congress; by his elaborate dispatches
as Secretary OF State; and by his protract-
ed intercourse with politicians and newspa-
pers. He who comes to write of Grant or
Sherman will find the literature Of the war
crowded with their personnel as citizens
and as soldiers.
But here is character who dies with a
reputation that will live as long as our
liberties, and yet with less of available In
cidcnt to delineate his great deeds than
has ever fallen to the lot of any public
man. The mere statement of fact SO un-
common is perhaps the best portrait of
Edwin M. Stanton. He stunned all decla-
nation and display. Eminently qualified
to lead IN the Senate, he preferred the less
brilliant yet more enduring honors of the
bar. Never member of any legislative
body, State or Natloral, never candidate
for any office, and never elected to but one,
that of reporter of the decisions of the Su-
preme Court of Ohio, We look in vain for
those data, which would threw strong
light upon the personal traits and striking
events OF one who became so distinguished
a f1gure during the ten years Of the nations
peril in rebellion and reconstruction. The
reticence which signalized his former life
was prominent while member of the Cabi-
net. Passionately attached TO the Republi-
can party, he did not take the stump, like
his associates, but waited for the war to
close before consenting to address the PEG.
pie In support of the principles he cherished
and the measures he originated or defended.
He labored Increasingly, but without parade.
An impassioned speaker, thrilling all the
time with what we call the " conscience of
the fight, and solicitous to degree for
the success of the Administration in the
elections, he seemed to think his mission
one oil silent, ceaseless, unselfsh toll. En-
toring upon il withou; an effort or II hope
oil his own, yet accepting it as call TO inn
perious duty, he gave up everythlng-for-
tune, health, and finally existence-in the
rcsoutc discharge Of its obligations. And
when he saw death approaching he reaues.
ted that he might be taken to his last rest as
unostentatiously as he had filled the mighty
trusts confded to him by his country.
Is 1t too much to say that he stands alone
in his supreme individuality F.? AS his exam
pie is without parallel, it may be quoted
witoout envy and copied without shame. 1t
is stamped over the whole volume of the
war. II breathed into the legislation of the
war. It was infused into the deliberations
Of the Cabinet. 1t fired the armies. 1t up-
| lifted the people. 1t made integrity the road
to honor in civic,as it made valor the road TO
| honor in military experience. 1t taught the
public man the great lesson of perfect disn-
lerestedness. II shamed the aspirant for
Office into noble self-sacrtice, and, by its
own complete surrender to country, made
patriotism valuable and vital element of
| the nations strength.
such is the example taught, without books
eulogles, and orations, in the simple and
massive character of Edwin NJ. Stanton.
Lake that once great temple of the Old
World, which survives in nearly all its
| original splendor, though the names of the
architect and builder have passed from hl,.
man recollection, Edwin Nj. Stanton's exam
pie will live without the aid of the annalist
UT piographer. OCCASIONAL.