The Portland daily press., 1873-04-22
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADy.xcv
William II. Sewara

The following is the panegyric Of N. A
ans Grafton on the great statesman. W;n,aro
II. Seward:
And now the chief part of nv work 10 do
have tried to test the statesman bv The h,as
cst s'ahdard known to mankind. His 90
reer covers the whole of what desicnated =.
.ne second period of our history. that. mend.
ing which, the heaviest clog 10 freedom a
pefliols legacy from our forefatheIs. was
aiter long and severe conflict, at last happily
removed. In this trial Mr.. Seward played a
s;ea1 s; par. His mind, taking In the broadest
ei1 eiuw o, practical popular government, never
no,vara nm ~ IN lne useful application of his
powers 10 the removal of all adyentitious oh
siructlons to its development He yvas never
mere theorist or dreamer of possibilities he
could NOS reach. He speculated boIdly hnt
he was an actor all the while. and airs.tad
results. 1t is in this sense that thinL rnv
narrative has established for him inst
claim to the high position / assigned to him
at my outset. lie may not, indeed, rise to
the full stature of the philosopher stateman
''equal to the present, reaching forward 10
the future, never seen even in the palmy
days of ancient Greece, or perhaps anywhere
else. but al least he stands in the first rank
of those admitted most nearly to approach
it.
But thus farI have considered him ex-
clusiyely in his public life. The picture
would scarcely seem complete if / omitted
word about him as man like all the rest OF
us. By nature he can scarcely be said TO
have been gifted with the advantage OF an
imposing presence, such as fell to the lot Of
Mr.. Calhoun and Mr.. Webster. Neither In
face nor in figure would he have attracted
particular notice, and boih his voice and
power of articulation were little favorable TO
the power of his elocution. Yet he had In
remarkable degree the faculty OF fixing the
hearers attention, the surest test of oratori-
cal superiority. His familiar conversation
rarely kept in the dreary round of common
place. and often struck into original and in
structive paths. His personal address was
easy and careless, sometimes rather blunt. IL
lacked something of the polish of the most re-
fined society, but there was simplicity and
heartiness in his genial hours that often
brought one close to him in moment. At
times, when in good spirits, there seemed
superabundant glee spriLgin from his own
thoughts, which spent itself in laughter more
robust than could be wholly accounted for by
anything expressed. And yet it had SYM
pathetic power over the hearers almost ire
sistible. In his domestic relations he was
pure and affectionate-Ieady to heed the
monitions of gifted and refined partner, and
profit by her prudent counsel. Unhappily,
her infirm health breeding strong inclina-
tion for retirement from the hustle and ex-
citement of the society at Washington, ma
terialy detracted from the influence as well
as the satisfaction attending her husbands
elevated position.
Our forefathers would marvel could they
imagine it possible for me to claim credit for
Mr. Seward, on the score of his honesty as a
public man. Yet the time has come when we
must honor one who never bought nor sold
vote or place, and who never permitted his
public action to be contaminated in the at
mosphere of corporation influence. On that
subject had occasion to know his sentiments
more than once. Above all he was earnestly
impressed with religious feeling, never max
ing parade of it, but never emitting every
proper occasion to make IL properly respected.
One of his finest traits was the calmness with
which he endured all the various political as
saults made upon him by opponents and often
by those of his own side. Few persons of his
time encountered more. 1t is the nature of
power always to raise body of resistance in
a relative proportion 10 the force OF its own
movement. Then came also the day of COM
plants raised by the large class fated TO be ag-
grieved by disappointed hopes or imagined Of
fenses, the arrogant, the incompetent, the ra-
pacious, the treacherous, and the unscrupu-
lous, always to be found intrenched around
about every fountain of political favors. Mr..
Seward was never tempted to elevate the po-
sition of such persons by controversy, or even
to profit of opportunities for merited retribu-
ton, even when clearly within his grasp. To
his intimate friends he was deeply attached.
One of these who survives him, may I say
his fidus Achates.
at comes ct pari6us curis vcstigia fgit,"
whose singularly dsinterested labor it has
been to effect the elevation of others TO pow
er, and never his own, and to whose remark
able address strongly suspect Mr.. Seward
owed many obligations of that kind, has been
obliging enough to submit to my perusal
numbers of his confidential letters. received
during interesting periods in the writer's life,
which have been collected and bound in vol
umes. j have closely examined them, as lay
ing bare the most secret impulses of his mind
and heart. Yet, highly confidential as they
appear on their face to be, could not detect
a single passage which, for his sake, 81 could
wish to blot" The line of great statesmen
in America may or may not stretch out
"In yon bright track that fires the western skies"
to the crack Of doom. But the memory of
him who guided our course through the most
appalling tempest yet experienced in our an
nails can scarcely fail to confront all future as
pirants in the same honorable career, as an
example which every one of them may imi-
tate to his advantage, but which few can
hope to be fortunate as to excel. ....-.