New-York tribune., 1874-03-12
CHARLES SUMNER.

upon it's rolls has disappeared from them Ior-
ever. Charles Sumner has not only left no
equal in the Capitol he has carried away with
him the traditions of that profound and
scholarly craftsmanship which the world was
once accustomed to associate with the name
of Senator. The conditions of public life are
not at present favorable to tho production OF
men of his stamp. 1t. may, therefore. be long
before we see his like again i'll the hall where
his is the most imposing and reverend mem
ory. new school Of Senators is rising, in no
respect resembling that to which Webster,
Chase and :. Seward belonged, and OF
which Mr.. Sumner was at once the most
superb exemplar and remlniscence They
promise to be men of shrewd and active
minds. of keen though narrow intelligence,
little culture, and deficient tone, but suh-
ciently well adapted to carry on the ordinary
working machinery of legislation in country
which, like ours, requires little government.
But there seems no favorable prospect OF see
ing the great vacancy occasioned by the death
of Sumner filed. When, years ago, his shat
| tered health compelled him to seek relief IN
protractod residence abroad. his State refused
to accept the resignation he rendered, on the
ground that his vacant chair was more elO-
ouent IN suggestion than the voice of any
substitute could he. We have but slender
hone that Massachusetts, will send to the
Senate any representative that will not seem
insignificant beside the august shade which
now does her such infinite honor.
If not from Massachusetts,, certainly from
no quarter is any hand stretched forth to
catch the torch which drops from the failing
grasp of the great athlete fallen by the way.
No one in recent years, perhaps no one in all
our history, ever entered public life so richly
freighted with every quality which commands
success and insures respect. Mind and body
alike, be was cast in natures happiest mold.
Tall, symmetrical, and powerful in frame,
with bearing more kingIike than that of
any king we know about, voice
of exhaustless strength and singular melody
and volume, command OF words
only surpassed by his afluence of ideas, a
genius Of powerful initiative strengthened and
disciplined by scholarship as practical as 1T
was profound, he was an orator OF the best
and most massive kind, worthy to rank with
the few great speakers who have illustrated
the craftsmanship of past ages. For he was
statesman no less than orator. There was
nOtlllg OF NlCtTO5
He never talked for mere intellectual gratifi-
cation. He was sometimes accused OF tins by
those in whose eyes his scholarship was sin,
but the truth ia that no one Ill
either House ever restricted his speeches
more vigorously to the discussion of living
and practical themes. That he made them
eloquent and learned as well as convincing
was no detriment to their energy and force.
His accurate and available legal knowledge, his
deep-seated sense OF justice, hls love OF liberty
and his wide and always youthful enthusiasm
of humanity. completed the ensemble of quail
tiles which made him the leader, in the Senate
of the United States of the great battle be-
tween Freedom and Slavery, which engaged
the best efforts of his early manhood, and to
which he consecrated the last'energieS of his
vigorous age.
In another place we have given the record
of the years, full of labor and of glory, which
be gave TO the service of his country. Few
lives in history are so spotess or so consistent.
His fame is as stainless as that OF any hero
of romance. He has never been accused even
by that partisan malice which so relentlessly
pursued him, of single dishonest or dis
honorable act. His life has no contrasts, no
brusque returns. His youth was given TO
studious work. When he enlisted in political
life the device on his shield was known to all
the world. He never betrayed principle, or
avoided the expression Of conviction. He
fought bis fight with as much discretion as
candor. The Administration of Lincoln had
no sincerer critic, no heartler friend than he.
Throughout the war, the army, under what
ever management, could rely upon his assist
ance in legislation, He Loyalty aided the
Secretary of State, with whom he was rarely
in sympathy, to keep our foreign relations
free from ENHANCEMENT. To him, more than
to any other, the freedmen owe their civil
rights, and even injustice and ingratitude had
no effect upon his fixed purpose to secure for
them every franchise and privilege of which
Slavery had robbed them. When the
Administration he had helped INTO power at
tempted to violate the Constitution by an
illicit intrigue against neighboring republic,
he incurred its persistent resentment by a
manly and efectual opposition to tho scheme
And when he saw the fatal tendency which
the personal characteristics and associations
of the President were imparting to the party
in power, he drew, for the Senate and the
country, portrait in which the historian of
the future will seek for the true character Of
the man under whose lead our armies went
to victory, and our politics to demoralized
chaos.
His failings, like his merits, were those of a
lofty character. He had the arrogance of a
man better Informed than his fellows "a GER
tain lack of sympathy with different habits of