The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-17
Vhs 8smtfmel.
TUESDAY, MARCH II.

the language of woe seems meanlngles
TO ter the sense Of sorrow-of ABANDON
men1 and desolation which comes upo1
the country with the taking on
Charles Sumner. Greeley, Chase, Sumner
all passed away-all in the fitness of year.
and honors and usefulness, but not In TIT
conuleteness of time. Greeley sank from
his place engulfed in mental and polltlca
disaster; Chase passed calmly from works tC
rewards, with his task ended, though moi
done; Sumner falls in the battle. with the
victory won. The end gained but his years cut
short. Suddenly, as death comes, however
Charles Sumner died in felicity that 10"
men so eminent ever know. bis
wo-k was done. He had rounded
very completely the grand mission to which
he had chivalrOusly devoted himself ana
although death has overtaken MN oeiore
his cue time. he leaves his house well in ORDER
He cau afford to leave the laurels that would
have crowned his brow, to be gathered for
his grave and woven into his monument by
the grateful millions to whom his memory
will .e a benediction and an inspiration.
He had set himself to a tremendous purpose
in tie days of his youth, when the noble
impu!ses and more generous instincts are
apt 20 have play. Although conceived in
the enthusiasm Of youth, his life-work was
pussced with unrelaxed purpose, until
trifi:nc finishing touches alone remained to
be added. He took up the battle Of human
freedom when that battle incurred social
degradation and political ostracism. Raised
in the ranks of luxury and refinement,
his heart went out so earnestly and ten
DERBY TO the woes of humanity that he
forsook the society which must have been
concenial to a man of Ms tastes, and
plupging headlong into the strife, arrayed
himself front to front in the foremost ranks
of the foot men, who were fighting away
down al the bottom. Other men who en-
tered the crusade against human
slavery had nothing to lose. and
miGh. gain. Sumner had everything
to lose, and could by no possibility gain
moie.y of the honor or fame men usually
seeE, that would not have been much more
easily mis- through the roseate path.of pre-
cedent and expediency. He was not of the
base metal of the make-shift school. The
sancti:y OF right was as strong to him in the
wides. scope of national design as it was In
the simple rule of neighborly love. Anunlaw-
full thing was to him an unholy thing, and he
set himself about the correction ola great ma
tional evil, PRECISELY as he would had it been
a personal wrong. From this his warfare
against slavery took the form of an inspired
apostIeship. His words were an awaken
ING 20 the nation. The dulled senses of the
north, and the demoralized understand
ing OF the south heard his tremen-
dous outpourings with stupefed wonder.
He possessed all the faith and much OF The
method of the typical reformer. Schooled
20 the utmost in all the branches that en-.
large the mind and strengthen the under
standing he came to the work of statesman
ship more perfectly prepared than any recent
statesman since Bacon. Milton, or
,rallevrand. With mental organism and
natural taste that would have made him coun-
ternart to the most marked figures among
the antiques. he possessed at the same time a
severitv and faith. that would have put him
as a narallel to Luther and Cromwell among
moderns. In the politics of this country
Simmer stood virtually alone. By position
and taste, he was debarred from the ignobie
vtr;fss and entanging alliances which mar
the careers and impede the purposes OF other
men who start out with great purposes
and something like equal capacities Law
making tn Summer, held all its ancient char
80 :. zolo,,,n;ty and sacredness. He could
not be brought to consent to legislation for
merely temporary ends. His aim was 10
the nation by such enactments as
its representatives we're compelled TO put
forth. Never in full sympathy with his
nartv. he was so fa- above and beyond its
sordid purposes and ignoble ends that his
influence was virtually broken In the SENATE
over which he lowered mental colossus.
Small men and vile measures have so long
filled the public eye, that Summers figure
has been lost to its VISION.
We shall need some time for per-
spexive to catch the stateliness OF the
figure he throws on the canvas of his time.
Others have taken up moro oil the puolro
attention, perhaps, than Sumner, but none
have achieved from the beginning more
lasting work. There are but two men OF
this generation who may be fairly put on
plane with him, judging solely by works
Bismarck and Cavour-the first rivetted
discovered Germany into an ircn bound
second gathered heterogeneous
of Italy into unity, while Sumner reunited
a great country in bond of genuine union,
The :obliterator of national infamy.
There may have been greater Amer
leans. but there have been none Purer
than Charles Summer. Truth vas his creed
and Justice his mission. He built his faith
ON the broadest faith in humanity, and be-
lieved all things possible to truth and con-
stancy. His life wss an epoch OF absolute
No human being ever charged,
or insinuated whisper of blot against Sum-
ner as a man, as an official, nor
as a friend. Somewhat cold in manner,
reserved in speech and aggressively self
lad m hRV tncfI