The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-09-16
William Pitt Fessenden.

ator from the State of Maine, was born in
Boscawen, New Hampshire, OF the 9th OF
November, 1906, and was at the time OF
his death nearly sixty.three years OF age.
He was q graduate OF Bowdoin College, a
member of the Legislature OF Maine In
1882, 1910, lS45, ls46, 1853 and 1854
He was elected to the Senate Of the Uni
ted States in 1854 as Wing. He resign
ed to succeed Salmon P. Chase as Secreta
ry OF the Treasury. He found the burden
too heavy, and holding this Cabinet posi-.
tion for but few months, was reelected
to the Senate the same year. With this
interval, he has served in that body con
tinuously for fifteen years. He goes down
to the grave at ripe age, and full of hon
ors. In this land none can go higher, un-
less they reach the exceptional, and some
times almost accidental station of Presl
dent of the United States.
MIR. Fessenden earned the honors an ap-
preciative peo,le gladly accorded to him.
In person slender and apparently fragile,
he was yet we'll formed and muscular He
possessed extraordinary powers of endu.
rance. His mental endowments were OF
the highest order His memory was pro-
digious. Yet he remembered not by rote
but by analysis. Whatever he read he
dissected and absorbed the essence of it..
IL then became part Of himself and al
ways at his command.
He was rarely eloquent in speech, but
marvelously clear and comprehensive, ar
gumentative and earnest. Yet his logic
was not of the formal order; 1t was direct,
pungent and convincing. He was keen in
repartee, and sharp in criticism. Hence,
in his prime, without effort at storytelling,
or humor of any sort, he was, by this fer
vid earnestness, added to his genuine in.
tellectual and analytic power, ahe most in
teresting and popular speaker among the
sturdy and intelligent citizens of Maine.
AS lawyer he then had no superior
As statesman in Congress he has had
few peers. He was thoroughly familiar
with all departments of the public bust.
ness. He was systematic, conscientious,
and diligent. He was faithful and inde-
pendent. Many deemed Mr.. Fessenden
biased in his Judgment on the impeach-
ment trial, by his personal hostility to Mr..
Wade, but no man ventured to question
his entire sincerity of purpose, and per-
sonal integrity of Judgment.
Mr.. Fessenden, in his later years, suffer
ed intensely with indigestion. He became
spare, severe and gloomy in expression of
countenance, and quite often in expression
of thought. He grew irascibIe, too. Yet
every body in the Senate explained it as
we have, still honoring the great brain
and true heart of the man. On all ques,
tions of general management and practical
system in governmental affairs no voice
was SO potent as his. His directive pow
ers, if we may so call them, were wonder
ful. On foreign affairs he often disagreed
with Mr.. Sumner, and so pointedly at
times as to interrupt good feeling. On
the Alabama question, however, he agreed
with him. and endorsed his late speech in
whole and in part. 1t is pleasant to re-
cord that at the recent session these emf.
nent men seemed to harmonic and almost
fraternize.
The financial views of Mr.. Fessenden
are expressed in the system adopted while
Mr.. Chase was Secretary of the Treasury.
He admired, counselled with, and unhesi-
tatingy defended Mr. Chase. He had no
new views to Offer He was wont to say
that it was always disagrceable thing to
pay debts. He never had seen a financial
system that was satisfactory. But he had
yet to see one less Objectionable than that
adopted by Congress to carry the nation
triumphantly through the war.
Mr.. Fesserden was radical in ideas but
cautious in action-cautious perhaps to a
fault. He believed in the least possible
force and the least possible legislation
He believed that most evils would work
their own cure far quicker and better than
.he medicine of interference would effect
it. Carrying this idea too far, in the opin-
ion of other Senators, he sometimes op,
posed legislation which the majority
deemed absolutely essential 70 the safety
of life and to right reconstruction of the
South. But in opposition, Senators re-
spected him and his motives.
Take him all in all, the country has pro-
duced few men more eminent or noble
To the wholesale Southern defamers of
Congress, we commend the stndy of his
pure character and unsullied public career.
Here is man in public life almost con,
stantly for forty years, Senator during
the war, Chairman of the Finance commit
tee, in intimate relations with the Secreta-
ry of the Treasury, and, for time, actually
Secretary; a man who never lost dollar
at a gaming table, who never was intoxi-
Gated, and rarely even tasted wine-a man
who lived in simple and inexpensive
style, and yet his fortune on the day of
his death was less than on the day he en-
tered Congress, and will not probably ex-
ceed $4,000. What can political de
famers say of this man? We trust that
the press of our State will cordially unite
with us, as the Charleston NeDs already
Ii / l..:-. 1