The Portland daily press., 1869-12-16

sent, the rigor of his accustomed methods
of induction and analysis.
His character rested on granite basis,
and sustained the structure of lofty pub
iic virtue and private integrity: while an
lnfieXible personal independence kept
guard over the intellect and conscience,
ana challenged the advance alike of friend
and Toe to this seat of his power and Sc
cret OF his success. 1t would have been
Impossible for him. like his great name
sake, the premier of George the Third to
recover office, TO acquire or retain place or
power, by a concession of his principles
or of point of honor. No public man
ever more heroically followed the leader
ship of his reason and judgment, and with
a loftier disdain Of inferior guidance.
Hls mind and method were of the judi
clal order. He did not defer to the de-
clslon of the popular Judgment as the sum
ofpolitical wisdom and the inevitable law
OF duty. His own, and not the public
sense, was his rule of action as Senator.
He paid little court to the people, and
practiced no artifices and employed no
gratuities to enlist them i'm his interests or
purposes. And he did not sway the
masses so much by the sublmity of his
sentiments as he inspired confidence and
admiration by the dignity of his manners,
the clearness of his understanding and the
| purity of his life.
That he possessed ambition was doubt
less true. while equally true it was that he
was free from all suspicion that his ambi-
ton had overcome his judgment or be-
trayed his public virtue. He had little am
Dlflon for mere power, and less use for it.
Patronage he did not covet or employ as a
support.
If excellence in oratory is to be deter
mined by its instant effect, Mr.. Fessenden
was in this entitled to high rank. His style
was clear and close, his reasoning concise,
his language simple and natural, his sar-
casm keen and pungent. His speeches
were calculated and designed for present
effect. and never seem to have been elabor-
ated with view TO their appearance in
print. Taken BY nc sudden impulse, poised
in debate on his intellect and reason, he was
never vehement, rarely yielding to strong
emotions, and only when pressed bv an
tagonism strongly assailing his coEvic-
tions or impinging his personal independ-
ence. On such occasions he exhibited the
amplitude OF his powers and the intensity
of his nature.
Skepticism and infidelity were foreign to
his mental constitution. Thoughtful and
sincere, with characteristic Independence
of creeds and traditions, his was nature
to feel the religious sentiment strongest as
it dwells apart in the silence of the soul.
In his recent touching eulogy here of his
cherished friend, with whom he had long
been associated, are to be found utterances
of his profound faith in God and of the
Christians hope of endless and more ex-
ated life.
Among the distinguished characters who
shall illustrate the annals of our times
history will assign him a conspicuous
nlana fFhrnnrh oil htC r,uhlio fa
vices, there shines the lustre of gifted
and noble manhood, of tried patriotism,
and of disnterested devotion to worthy
ends and aims. A steady leader, safe
counsellor, pure and cOnsiderate patriot,
an eminent statesman, true man and
friend, has gone to his reward.
In the House of Representatives when the
message was received from the Senate an
nouncing the death of Senator Fessenden,
Mr.. Lynch of Maine said:
Mr.. Speaker:-The message Just received
from the Senate announces that another of
the distinguished statesmen of the country
has passed away. And although the sad
event occurred many months since, and has
been heralded to the country by the pulpit
ard the press, it is eminently proper that IN
these halls, where he has exerted such a COM
Aueehoip3 lihuCuCC, dLu dO Ills tlllC, Wucll, Ou
assembling together, we miss his presence
from our councils, and begin to realize the ma
tioas loss, we should pause from our labors,
and, consecrating day to his memory, pay
tribute to his virtues.
For myself, sir, l have never so fully recog-
nized the loss sustained by our country, my
State, and my own immediate constituents, as
since returned to my labprs here. For al
though he was my neighbor and my friend,
ut fl,n~ 80
L was most closely and intimately connected
with him. Indeed, since his election to the
Senate, 1t was in the discharge OF his public
duties here that the most of his life was spent.
At home he lived quite retired, dividing the
most of his time between his family, his gar
den, and his library, mingling little with So
ciety and avoiding all eXcitements. His close
application during the sessions of Congress to
his duties here, which were never interrupted
except by sickness, while he was member of
the Senate, made such drafts ON his naturally
feeble constitution as to render it necessary
for him to recuperate, mentally and physically,
during the recess.
slight departure from his usual course
probably induced the attack which terminated
his life. His sickness lasted but few days.
during which time the hopes and fears of his
friends alternated until the morning of Sept,
7, when he began gradually to sink away.
''His sufterings ended with the day:
Yet lived he at it's Close
And breathed the long, long night away,
In statue-like repose.
"But when the sun in all his state
1umed the eastern skies,
He passed through glory's morning gate,
And walked in Paradise"
He died in Portland, at his home which he
loved so well, and surrounded by his family
and friends who were so dear to him, at twen-
to- fc;xy o
September s.
Mr.. Fessenden, though born in the State of
New Hampshire October 16, 1SO6,) was from
his earliest childhood a resident of Maine. In
that State he received his early training and
his collegiate education, and it was in the
public service of that State that he acquired
reputation as an able Statesman. Admitted
to the bar before he had attained his majority,
he rose rapidly in his profession, and at the
time of his withdrawal from it into political
line, had no superior at the bar in Maine, and
few in the country. Candid, straightforward
and direct, clear in his statements and logical
in his arguments, he had great influence with
court and jury; and it was these qualities,
brought into exercise in the forum of the Sem
ate, which gave him such commanding influ-
ence in that body. He loved his profession,
and left it reluctantly for the more arduous
and exciting labors Of political life.
Identified with the Whig party, which, be-
ing in the minority in the State and nation,
felt the necessity for putting forth its ablest
champions, he found it difficult to resist the
demands made upon him by his political
friends, and in 1881 he was elected as one of
the Representatives from the city of Portland
to the Legislature of Maine; and although the
youngest member, he soon rose to distinction
in that body and in the State. 1t was during
this period that the United States bank ques-
ton was agitating Congress and the country:
and resolutions were introduced into the
Legislature instructing the Senators in Con-
gress from Maine to vote against rechartering
that institution. Mr. Fessenden made q
speech against the resolutions, which is re-
markable not only for that peculiar power
which distinguished his subsequent efforts, but
still more remarkable as embodying his views
of the duties and responsibilities of a Senator
OF the United States, and as LAYING down
those opinions and principles which after
wards governed his own action in that hioh
position. Some passages of this speech SO
strikingly illustrate his character, and shed so
much light upon his course as a public man.
that l cannot forbear quoting them here.
Speaking OF the proposition to instruct Sena-
tors in Congress, he said:
"They have much better opportunities to
give the question full, fair and thorough ex-
animation than we can possibly possess.
They, too, are acting under the sanction of
an oath, and they have, therefore, stronger
inducements to give this matter, as they are
to pass upon it, such an investigation as it de-
serves. Sir, have no doubt that our Sena-
tors in Congress entertain these views. I
should hesitate to believe that, in the dis
charge OF their high and important trusts.
they would, on questions of great imnortapoo