The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-01-01
NllseElzMgg.
- ~ tealfssg for January.I
MR.. BLAcE TO mR. ADAMS.
The Late Stewards Political
Course Reviewed.


ID. ~ ---
ANANsWER TO STABLES FRANCIS ADAMs's
RULoGY-MR.eEWA COURSE PRIOR
TO AND DURINa THE WAR-HIS CLAIMS
TO LEGAL ENIeENcE AND STATESMAN
SHIP DENIED-4FEw FACTS IN coNNEC
TIoN WITH Tan EPISODES OF THE RE-
.RELLJoN- 80
i To the Hon. Charles Erancis Adams:
Among a certai1 class of the American
Ipeople- a desire Eva Is that your "Me-.
moral Address "soh the late William H.
Seward should receive a fuller examina-
ton than Mr. Weiies has given II. His
papers are very str1ng and clear; but there
are certain funds entail questions which
he does not touch and which the friends
of constitutional esqvernment cannot al
low to be washed IN Lethe and forgot
ten. In my attempt to supply some
-ofs his omissions address you di-.
rectlYi because r. thzs form I can best
express my greasEresgect for you while l
try to expose the errors which think l
have detected. in your address.
Your reputation for stainless integrity,
for great talents, and for liberal princi-
pies, gives your words almost the au-
thority of an oracle There is, perhaps,
no man IN this country whose naked as
sertlon would go further than yours, at
home or abroad. If you have pronounced
an erroneous Judgment on an important
matter 1t should be subjected to free re-
vision.
This is an important matter, Mr.. Sew
ard was so connected with the greatest
eveRts Of the last twenty years, that a
Misrepresentation OF his life is a fasclna-
tion Of public history. Besides, he diff
fered so widely from all his predecessors
and many of his cotemporaries, that un-
qualified approval of him implies the
severest condemnation of them. Your
own consciousness of this is betrayed in
your harsh denunciation of those who
committed no crime but that of being op-
posed by him. If Mr.. Seward was not a
wise and virtuous man, if he was uniaith-
ful to his public duties, ii his policy tend
ed to the corruption of morals and the
consequent destruction of popular liberty,
If he was not true to the Constitution
and laws which he often swore TO execute,
then you have done a most pernicious
wrong in holding him up as an example
for others to fellow.
hope have made sufficient apology
for the presumption of which 1 seem TO
be guilty in declaring that your address Is
full Of mistakes.
Your COMPARISON of = Mr. Seward to
Perlcles was rash and extravagant. a
little reflection and another reading of
Plutarch will satisfy you that the New
York politician bore not the slightest re-
semblance to the illustrious Athenian
whose transcendant genius as a military
commander, orator, scholar, philosopher,
law-giver, judge, and iurist. brought the
greatest people of the earth TO the sum
NIT of their glory in arms, in arts, and in
literature. The difference could not be
greater As men they had something IN
common-organs, dimensions, senses, al
tectlons, passions-and each was remarka
bic IN his way; but everything that dis |
tlngulshed them from the rest of the |
world equally distinguished them from |
one another. They were alike IN no |
characteristic quality, moral or mental.
There is not one parallel passage Ia their |
history. A true picture of Mr.. Stewards |
life will not show a single feature which |
can be recognised even as a miniature |
likeness ef any Trait insst bat Of PerIeies.=z
1t is easy to eulogize a man by appro- |
priatlhg to him the qualities of another /
whom history has already consecratsd to
the admiration of mankind. This cheap
and compendieus mode of dealing with
the fame of an ancient hero or sage, by
transferring it in bulk to modern ia
voute. is often resorted to, and almost al
ways fails of its purpose, MIR. Lincoln
was said by his admirera to be repro
ducton of Socrates; Robespierre was the
Aristides of the French Assembly, and
Klootz was Anacharis Congress andl
the State Legislatures are full Of Catos.
We have them among the directors OF the
Credit Mobilier. l have heard Mr. Ames
described as one who was GtrLo1l1or CdtO7le
more severely virtuous than the stern
est of Roman censors. Your analogue is
more absurd than any OF these. You
might as we'll have carried it out by
showing that Mr.. Thurlow Weed was the
counterpart of Aspasia.
But Pericles is not the only famous
man that suffers at your hands. MIR.
Seward once put in the plea of insanity
for negro accused of murder; and you
pronounce his argument lone of the most
eloquent in the language" The speeches
of such men as Meredith, O'COnor, and
ReYerdy Johnson are nowhere; and Frs
kine's magnificent defense Of Hatfield Is
rivalled If not eclipsed.
Your claim of great professional ability |
for Mr. Seward is one of the mos. sur
prislng you have made The conviction
is almost universal that he knew less OF
law and cared less about it than any other
man who has held high Office IN this
country. If he had not abandoned the
law he might have been sharp attorney;
but he never could have risen to the up
per walks of the profession. He would
have been kept in the lowest rank, not by
want Of mental capacity or LACE OF dlh-
gent habits, bet by the inherent defects
Of his moral nature He did not believe
in legal Justice, and to assist IN the hon
Of = =
grain If his incEnations You yourself
are frank enough to cwn that it was mot
an occupation congenIad to his taste" but
that. on the contrary, he held it in aver
sion Being so constituted, it was i'm
possible for him to tread the mountain
ranges of jurisprudence. He might as
we'll nave tried to be great theologlan
without faith in the gospel In fact this
was Mr.. Stewards cote faibIe all through.
If he had understood and respected the
laws. he would have led tolsrsbly diff
ferent NE, ana =perbIJs the geaeEsl-ascay
of our political. institutions would not
have taken place.
But let us 60 over the particular case
of which you have given a most elabo-
rate report, derived, no doubt, from Mr..
Seward himself, or from somebody else
who was decidedly his comes and tsdus
dchUISS. our own A&CNo AAN SSAOAA-
sions will show Mr.. Stewards real. grade
as lawyer, and at the same time test the
value of your Judgment upon his merits.
A negro was indicted for the Wilful, de-
Iiberate. and eold-blooded murder of a
whole family. The proofs of his guilt
were very clear, and the public mind was,
naturally and justly, Pervaded with
desire that he should suffer the punish
ment due to him. by the laws of God and
man. 1t was legally necessary that some
BODY should appear for HIM at the trial.
But YOU say that this duty was made so
dangerous by the excited state ef public
feeling; that when the trial was called all
the crowd of professional men. hung back
in. terror, all except William Henry Sew
ard; but he, defying the enormous hsz-
ard, and taking his life IN his hand,
stepped forward and undertook the ser
vice. And this you declare to have been
"a scene of moral snblimity rarely to be |
met with In the paths OF our common e1-
perience.' -
The moral sublimity of this scene will |
cease to, dazzle you when you recollect |