Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-12-04
THE RUTLAND HERALD
MONDAY, DECEMBER /. 1878.
ANOTHER WARNING.

On thanksgiving Day, tneIc uiou III
st. Louis, man who had stood upon the
topmost round of human usefulness, as
well as in the front rank of promise for
the first place in his country's fame.
Twelve years ago, no man had better
prospects before him than Richard
Yates, the war governor OF the great
State of Illinois. Thursday last his alb
sent spirit hastily took its flight from its
drunken and besotted tenement, ending
a life whose brightest hopes and brilliant
promise had been wrecked upon the ter
rible shoals of intemperance. The death
few years ago of the brilliant and &C
complished James McDougall, of Cali
fornia, the keenest and most eloquent
member of the United States Senate,
ever stood as warning before the Wis
ion of Richard Yates, but with all his
powers of will and reason, with the per-
feet control of logic and all the culture
of the schools, he could not master his
warnings appetite, and he now takes his
place in the drunkards ignoble grave,
side by side with the sparkling inebriate
McDougall, whom he resembled SO much
in his abilities and learning whom he
exceeded in his opportunities for fame
and usefulness, and whose disgraceful
fall and humiliation he 50 closely imi-
tated.
From 1860 to 1866, if any person had
inquired who was the rising man of
the west that had the brightest future
before him, there would have been but
little hesitation in the reply, that Gov
ernor Yates was emphatically that man.
He was well stocked with brains his
mind was stored with useful knowledge;
kind heart and pleasing manners, the
voice and humor of a great orator, the
intuitions of statesman, were all his.
He was thorough good fellow, with
no visible reason why his life should not
| be a perfect round of success and glory.
To be sure he indalged very moderately
in wines and liquors; but not enough to
attract attention. He conducted the
affairs of his State through the dark days
of the rebellion with remarkable saga
city, and gave Illinois q proud reputa-
| ton in the rebellion. His discrimina-
ton of men and their fitness for places
of public trust led him clear of all mis-
takes in selecting public servants and
his associates to perform the arduous
duties before him. 1t was this appreeia-
ton of merit on the part of Governor
Yates that led him to select an obscure
clerk in his Adjutant Generals Office for
Colonel Of the 2tst Illinois Infantry, and
gave to the country the commander that
conquered peace and now occupies the
! Presidential chair. The public admin
| istration of this Governor was. almost
absolutely free from mistakes, and bis
| praise resounded through the nation. +
For six years, from 1865 to 1871,
Yates represented his State in the Unit
ed States Senate. His drinking habits
had grown upon him, and the moderate
indulgences of his former life held him
in wise that he could not break from.
| He saw his danger too late. The net of
| fate was about him, and from the. brill
liant orator, accomplished statesman
and Christian gentleman, he rapidly
rushed down the road to ruin, and be-
came a hideous, iinbeeile drunkaFd, a
7 disgrace to himself and his friends. The
| people. were forced to dismiss him in
disgrace from the public service where
he had won such an enviable reputation,
and lost it all sgain by his debasing
habits of intoxication He was early in
| life the husband of noble and accom-
| plished wife and the loving father of
beautiful children, who were the pride
of his life, but his appetite for drink be-
came stronger than his ambition fol-
| tame, stronger than his desire for use
| fitness, stronger than his love for his
wife and children, and he sacrificed all
for the demon of alcohol and its accom-
paning ruin, and he lived disgraced
and broken wreck, and died as the fool
dieth -. ~ g 81 u.
We have no purpose to say unkind
words by the side of the open grave OF
| Richard Yates The writer of this has
seen him in the heyday of his manhood
and glory, surrounded by friends an6
admirers, enjoying the prestige of high
office and popularity with the people
and domestic felicity that any might
envy. We have all felt shame in later
years for his degradation, and as he
passes from earth with sullied reputation
and dishonored name, his life may well
be held up as warning to the young
men of this age who, with weaker inte
lects and less judgment, think they have
power to be and remain moderate drink
ers of intoxicating liquors. James Nc
Dougall and Richard Yates could not
keep themselves out of drunkards' graves,
and they only began as very moderate
drinkers. America does not produce
two other men who are their superiors
ininteliect, learning, judgment or power,
and how can one with less of these at
tributes OF self protection, hope a better
fate than was theirs, if they put them
selves in the way of the same tempta-
ton. The lessons of such lives as these
are conclusive refutations of there being
any safety in moderate drinking, and
they teach the absolute necessity of
total abstinence. Let the lesson be
needed
TO ERR rs HUMAN.