, 1872-10-19
SEWARD.
Souvenirs at the Capital.



wAszrxo2os, Oct. IS, 1872.
Mr.. Seward died after his work WAS finished,
md he had taken more rest than Afaeliean
statesmen generally ask or receive Stanton
was struck down at the foot of the Supreme
Bench, where his fe1yid nature had been doomed
to look and liaten for the remainder OF life.
Many able men have been dismissed to poverty
OF drudge1y when the public fashion or party
pioue had done With them. Mr. Seward was
born, and lived, and led, and died that sort OF
equal career which comports with 8 statesnan.
Poverty never led him into temptation. Men Of
rougher natures, like Weed. did the politicians
work, and gave him tie honorable cents he
Aapired to, as il their affection for him would
not permit that he should coil his feet,
or be yoked to mercrnary people with
obligations. Something in the man must haVe
noiselessly drawn these men to him. They were
probably proud Of his talent, and to Ind that he
grew steadily stronger as Re walked Oh III hon
ors and he possessed an even nature, averee 10
qnaIrele, and philpeophic estimates ot mankna
60 that his friends we're never dashed down like
mere vases, and shattered at his hearth-stone,
il he found them empty. He had few of them.
and those whom he liked be neither ideallzed
nor berated. They always proved sufficient 1of
il people came to him with stories about them,
be gave the stories that kind Of broad humans
tartan hearing which showed that he was
nmueed with his friends idiosyncracies rather
than struck with their wickedness. Mr. Seward
saved himself vast deal Of trouble by not seek
ing to be the owner of his friends. He liked
their consideration, but shared their pleasures
in return, drank their wine Us they his, and
they protected his honor wherever theirs might
ssonld s II for % he neYer watched himself as if he
we're afraid or sensitive, lived gentlemans
life, and made the State his care, and let his
reputation take care Of itself.
am not sure but that the most perfect model
OF the American gentleman of the present day 10
not to be found in Western New York. might
observe to Mr. Conkling that this model is occa-
sionally found as far East as Utica, but not IN
his. case. Avon, Albion, Rochester, AUBURN,
and susquehanna Valley currents coalesee in
the noblest climate Of North America, end tint
and model such pears, pumpkins, and women
as make old Pan himself hide IN the broorn-corn
Seward spent the primo = of his youth
and the residue of his days, among warm and
athletic intellects, and society which might be
called the social orchard. There he married,
other steadfast ann Of support around linn.
Sons and daughters grew up, able IN time TO car
n some of his burdens and, at the least: to re-
new his pride Of country by the slGht Of ~ tnelr ~;
going and coming Fortunate IS ane -eag nnu 1's bs
blessed with competence like this. and still be
aaid never to have been rich. Mr.. seward's
father acquired the basis Of comfortable for
tune; he added to it some profits derived from on
the agency and attorneyship OF the Holland
Land Purchase; and he made some fees in the
practice Of the law, though email ones COM
pared to counsel-fees nowadays. HIS @ estate ate
may have been worth from Sz9u,oue
to $so0,o0o during the latter part Of
his life. But money became him SO
easily that one could write out all his life, and
never think to allude to the subject Of his pecu-
uia1v resources. Indeed, the biography Of mr.
Seward is unusually defective as to the matter Of
means and processes. Mr. Greeley, his political
contemporary, relates, with quaint satisfac ct1on,
all the items Of thrift and outlay pertaining to
his little hut at Chappaqua but Mr. Seward,
when the curtain rises seen merely Ee'ea,ea u
there that ne cannot have tue bad. manners to
ask how he came by it.
He possessed no other qualities than t!a l have
mtated to make him n9Pnara patcan o2s eo
country. This feeling, without which no mar ;!
can be an American in the high sense OF public
influence, bounded every enterprise ano
Of Of his o,hns fe ecss 1s9 The hgsGl PFes
dency upon, but slowly-grown conviction Il
his conBery yatiye mind that on this law the laDt
must lean to retain and deserve it's greatness
and that popular empire must lapse II al 1T
growth we're to be at the expense Of human na
fure. They seized this phrase and called hin
the nHigh-Law candidate" but no motive coult
make Mr. Seward demagogue. Hedied, believe
with the phrase unntteIed against any slaveholae
slave-question as if its Importance alone, as
gigantic parasite upon the Union, must be M u
apology for interference and, had the Souti
pobsessed capable statesmen, they would hav'
hastened to make compromises The man calle'
demagogue and fanatic in al tn
preeses was neither, and he would nav
been as ardent as his nature could permi
to advocate some eEsts t G5 Of SaRh Ne1
should have snuifed the tempest from atat
there were no true statesmen south OF Kentucky
Missouri, and Virginia They treated, as piec
OF blasphemy,. the candid phraseology OF ma ma
Payne (or Powell, the assassin, rushed on II!
Seward, in the bedroom, to kill the arch-Aboli
ZIONIST Of the North, he only eznote the mos
conservative statesman and one OF the trues
Kentlemen in all this country, North or South
Booth and Payne, killing their friends whel
most the South needed them, we're the pupils O
an indiscriminately partisan md passionate
press, and of selfish and urscrupnlous schoo
OF Southern stump-epeakera. 1t is tho buslneE y,
OF q useful press and reliable publ
man to soften and enlighten the igno
rant passion OF their - constituency 'n S3,ssy
Ha done TIER 9 SgtY hve in the sopate aast ds
Seward fifteen years ago as they shall lanen
hin hereafter. While their blind guides wer
seeking, without capacity, to govern the Ievolu
tion they had permitted and abetted, Whi!e the
were successful in arms TOR three continuou
years, and obtained every advantage but states
inanehip, this Socialist, this Robespierre as TIE
called him, without an angry word or any dlf
paragement Of his countrymen in arms agalns
I nsP the e}gsE donionndd I ThRse eefe
wnved awav recognition. Recognized BY \
State in Ch1ietendom. refuted everywhere, tn
South had. only to wait the day Of sen-exhauI
tion; and. then, again, the blow 1t
vagrant assassin dealt at Seward ~, wa
AIMED at:a man who had never rejoiced in thel
dieaster. He never did. No bitter sweet ca
grow upon his grave.
Seward however, was politician, and b. b
il the Party a the 6oteom 1T q esa fa
fonr parties in his period. He was an 4 ANT
Mason, Wing, e Republican, and Natl9n' ON
Conservative st last. People laugh nowada1
ri the Anti-Maaonic party. In the .neighbo
Mr seEafd yea this P4T{ hsa
so1nethine which claimed tharight to take lii
without authority OF civil law. Perhaps III
sonry owes to Anti-Masonry its redemption fro
hrs EncPfV