Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-01-04
EDWIN II. STANTON.

|
| Edwin NJ. Stanton. Upon the platform
were Mr.. William Cullen Bryant, Mr.. A
I. Stewart, General John A. Dix, General
Ivan Buren,, the Rev DIR. Bellows, the Rev
! DIR. Thompson, Mr.. Peter Cooper, MIR
J Moses H. Grinnell DIR. Lieber and Mr.
Marshall o. Roberts.
Remarks were made by Mr.. Bryant and
others. From the remarks of DR.. Bellows
1--we take the following;
"Of Virginian parentage, he had enough OF
her hot blood in his veins TO understand that
the quarrel with the South was to the death,
and enough of her fierce and self-deyoted
spirit to meet her advances with sword as
sharp and thrusting as her own. He loved his
country with the ardor of n bridegroom. and
hated her enemies with the godly Jealousy OF
a husband for the rival in wite's affections.
1t was no cold, calculating patriotism that
| could consider the advantages and disadvan-
tages of disunion or compromise, that was
wanted in the government or in the country
| then but a passionate devotion hot fierce,
| ones sided, terrible earnestness, such as would
burn through opposition. fire the luke-warm,
consume the doubts and fears of the wavering
and melt into lava stream of volcanic fury
| the DaTty Tic businCSs
the personal waverings, the philosophic mis-
givings. the Giants and 'won'ts' of the mod
crate and the mild, the self-styled walters on
Providence, and the logic of events.
There are times when passion-noble,
godlike infinite passion, that lets the force of
| the hurricane into the channels of human at-
fairs and multiplies, by an infinite factor, the
| fractional and limited powers of calculation
and reason-can alone work the saving mira
Giles by which the souls of nations and the life
of states are saved. Who could look on the
pale, scholarly visage rising above the broad
shoulders of that great Secretary, and not
perceive that the white heat of a devouring
passion for his country and her cause was Civ
ing vent to the national volcano through his
Titanic soul, and that the crushing, rushing,
fury of the national devotion and selt-aban-
donment was finding its first full outlet and
expression in his character and his policy
And oh I! how rare is that divine anger. tina.
impersonal fury, that becomes the greatest
causes, and leads to the results of such lives
as Luther's and CromwelPs.
"What is it the American people lack SO
much as reasons for faith in the deep, self
forgetting earnestness and conservation of
their public menu Make them absolutely
sure that their statesmen and rulers love their
country. their God, their duty better than
themselves, and they will forsake all-party,
self-interest, pride and policy-yes. forsake
all, and follow them! But do we remember
what this earnestness and passion implied in
Mr.. Stanton? 1t was marked with two quail
tiles, which, in my own intimacy with him,
stood out in the most vivid and affecting re-
lief. and they were, perhaps, the last traits
YOU would expect to find in such man, al
though believe they are nearly universal in
the highest natures-tendernesS and sadness
Beneath Mr. Stantons robust and stern bosom
dwelt softness and gentleness of heart which
made him the idol of his home and the object
of passionate devotion from his personal
friends. ! shall never forget the way he took
me in his embrace, almost the first time we
met as if, in his own home. and before an I'M
worldly profession, his official reserves were
all gladly and irresistibly dropped. and he
could indulge the luxury of love.
His external manners were the rough rind
of his tender heart. Rather than against
others he protected himself against himself
the relentings of his gentle spirit, the perilous
softenings of his soul-by the iron mail of a
brusaue and cold carriage. The betrayer he
most feared was in his own heart, and that
made his eye and brow discharge their ameni
ty, to hide from the world the place where he
alone was venerable. Mr.. Lincoln-let his
name never be publicly named without honor
and reverence-had not a gentler heart than
Mr.. Stanton, and it was their common tender
ness that melted them together and made
them one through the war. | should not have
been surprised at any time to have found them
locked in each other arms and kissing like girls
after days struggle to be stern and cold in
the great and never-ceasing conflict with the
enfeebling seductions of betraying public.
But Mr.. Stanton had higher mark of great
ness, because of diviner type-sadness-th
sadness of souls that feel all the loneliness OF
their unshared responsibility; the greatness
of their ideal shaming the best accomplish
ments their yearning for sympathy, backed
by the necessary, unc0nquerable superiority
and elevation of their views, so that they
dwarfed by the distance in which they leave
others behind them, and made solitary and
lonely by the heights they attain. There was
an almost tragic sadness on Mr.. Stanton's
face.
"'With grave
| Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemd
pillar of state; deep on his front engrayen
Deliberation sat and public care"
at was not like the sadness of Mr.. Lin
coins countenance, which resembled that face
that was more marred than any man.. The
President was ploughed and furrowed with
sorrow, till his face looked like the sea after
a storm when the winds are hushed, but the
waves still roll, and the gray clouds make
them leaden and sad But Mr.. Stantons
sadness was that of the midnight embers.
which shows fire slumbering beneath the
ashes-ashes which disappointments, griefs,
misunderstanding, abuse, delays, have
heaped up, but which, gray and silent, hide
unconquerable flames in their boson! l must
leave others to speak of the other point, in
which we lacked most and were supplied by
him--administrative skill and energy, the
largeness and promptness and many-sided
activity of the great War Secretarys admin
istration. l will not say he brought the ma
tive American genius for administration into
the War office, because, great as Americans
show themselves in the management of their
private concerns, they are yet to prove their
superior talent for public administration
executive genius being yet rare. But Mr..
Stanton had it, and lie showed oil public
scale just the qualities which our greatest
merchants and lovers of corporations exhib-
ii in their private business.
''He was as clear and prompt, and all-know-
ing and omnipresent in the department as Mr..
Stewart is in his mercantile establishment.
But all his patience of details, his untiring
energy and ceaseless labOrs would have been