The Republican journal., 1874-01-01
Mr.. Blacks Estimate of the Late Wan.
III. Seward.


il. His papers are very strong and clear: but
| there are certain fundamental questions which
nc does not touch, and which the friends of con-
| Stlfullonal government cannot allow 10 be
washed i'll lrthe and forgotten. In my al
tempt to supply some of his omissions, address
you directly, because in that form | can best
express my great respect for you, while try
to expose the errors which think | have de-
tectcd nfNour address.
Your reputation for stainless integrity. for
great talents, and for liberal principles. give
Your words almost the authority Of an oracle.
| There IS, perhaps, no man in this country whose
naked assertion would 90 further than yonlS. ri
home or abroad. II YOU have pronounced M
| erroneous Judgment on an important matter, it
should be subjected to 4 free revision
This il an important matter Mr.. Seward
was so connected with the greatest events OF the
| last twenty years, that misrepresentation Of
his life Is Justification of public history Be
sides. he differed 80 widely from all lhis pre-
decesSors and many Of hi, c0ntcmporarir~ that
| unqualified approval Of him implies the ~eyereSt
| condemnation Of them. y our own conscious
ness ot this is BETRAYED in yonr harsh lcnuncit-
ton of those who committed no crime but that
of being opposed by him. If Mr.. Seward was
not Il wise and yirtuous man, if he was lnfaith-
fnl to his public duties. if his policy tended 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 most
perniciouS wrong in holding him up aS IN eN-
| ample for others to olloW.
| hope have made Il sufficient apology for
the presumption Of which | seem to be guilty
| in declaring that yonr address is fun Of mis-
| takes.
Your comparison Of Mr.. Seward to Pcrirles
was rash and eNtravaganl. A little reflection
i and another reading of Putarch will satisfy Won
that the New York politician bore not the
| slightest resemblance to the llllStrl0uS A1hCnan
whose tran-ccndant genius as military com
mander. orator scholar, philosopher, law-@iver,
judge and jurist, brought he greatest people of
the earth to the summit 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 affections.
pasSlons-and each was remarkable in hiS way;
but everything that distinguished 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 in their history. A
true picture of Mr. Stewards life will not show
4 single feature which can be recognized even
as a miniature likeness OF trait IN that of
PericleS.
1t is easy to eulogize a man by appropriating
to him the qualities of another whom history
has already consecrated 10 the admiration OF
mankind This cheap and compendious mode
of dealing with the fame of an ancient hero or
| sage. by transferring it i'll bulk to modern
tavorite, is often reSorted to. and almost ALWAYS
fails Of its purpose. Mr. Lincoln was said BY
his admirers to be a reproduction of Socrates
| Robcsperlc was the Aristides Of the French
| Assembly. and kootZ was AnaChar-i>. CON
gress and the State Legislatures are full of
tatos. We have them among the directors Of
the Credit Mobilier. | have heard MI. Amcs
described as one who was Catonior Catonc--
| more severely vlrtnous than the Sterneet 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. IhurloW
Weed was the counterpart of Aspasia.
But Perlcles is not the only famous man that
suffers at your hands. Mr.. Seward once pul i'll
the plea of insanity for negro accused Of mur-
der; and YOU pronounce his argument.' gone of
the most eloquent in the language The
speeches Of such men A. Meredith O'lonor
and Reverdy johnson are nowhere; and
Erskne's magnificent defence of Hatfield il
| riyalled ii not ecllpsed.
| Your claim of great professional ability iOr
| Mr.. Seward is one OF the most surprising YOU
! have made. The conviction is almost uuiyef al
that he knew less of law and cared less about il
than any other man who has held high olliG in
| this country Ii he had not abandoned the law
he might have been a sharp attorney but he
never could have risen 10 the upper " tlEe of
the profession. He would have been kept in
the lowest rank. not by want OF mental capacity
| or lack OF diligtn habits, but by the inherent
defect of his moral nature. He lid not believe
IN legal justice, ana 10 assist in the honest adj
mlniStralon of it was against the Grain "i his IN
| cllnallons. on yourself are trlnl. enough 10
own that it was mot an occupation conyenial
| 10 hle taste. but that, on the contrary, he
held ii III aversion" Being 50 constituted il
"a9 impossible for him to tread the mountain
| ranges Of jurisprudence, tie might as well
have tried TO be great the eoogian without faith
i'll the gospel. In fact This was Mr.. SeWar,'s
cote tuible all through. Ii lie had understood
and respected the laws he would have led a
tolerably different life, and perhaps the general
decay Of our political institutions wonld moi
| have taken place
But lei lis go oNtrhe particular case of " hi,Il
you have given most elaborate report, de-
rived, no doubt, from Mr.. Seward himself, or
| from somebody else who was decidedly his
| Aph
conclusions will show Mr.. Stewards real Grade
As a lawyer, and at the same time test the value
! OF Your Judgment upon his merits.
negro was indicted for the Wlllll ,irlibpl-
| ate and cold-blooded murder Of Il whole family.
The proofs Of his guilt We're very clear, ana tie
! public mind was naturally and Justly pervaceu
with desire that he should suffer The punish
ment due 10 him by the laws Of God and man.
1t was legally necessary that somebody should
appear for him at the trial But you say that
this duty was made so dangerous bv the excited
state OF public feeling that, when the trial was
called, all the crowd of professional men hung
back i'll terror all except William Henry Sew
ard; but he, detyng the ''enormous hazard"
and taking his life in his hand stepped forward
and undertook the service. And this you ,le-
clare to have been "A scene of moral >libmtv
rarely to be met with in the Pat I> OF our com
mon experience"
The moral sublimity of this scene will cease |
to dazzle you when YOU recollect that no coun- |
>ellor ever exposed himself to the slightest dan |
ger by defending 4 criminal. There is no i'll |
stance on record in which the public wrath |
reused by crime, has been vented in acts of |
violence upon the counsel of the maleacIor for /
putting i'll truthfully and honestly the best an
sWer he could to the charge. Even talschoo,l, |
though it provokeS contempt is largely tocr- |
ated because it can do no harm in competent
court. The assertion that Mr.. seward was in !
personal danger is coAtradlcted by all expert
ence IN similar cases. and therefore wholly in
credible. This acting as volunteer counsel for
ha. nj lt,at,
as ii is common. The herosm Of it in this ease
was an afterthought possibly of the hero HIM
self-probably of the Comes; certainly it did
not'come spontaneously into ynar head.
The dramatic interest of YOUR story, is further |
spoiled by the fact that he did not yoluntet lm-
eNpectedly, at the moment when the ease was
called, when everybody else was scared, and at-
ter the Judge had become hopeless Of getting IN
attorney bold enough to assist him in comply |
ing with the forms of law. In Mr.. S,walri'4 |
speech as quoted by you, he referred to a pre-
liminary hearing which lasted two weeks. and
at which he had appeared for the prisoner. lie
was then publicly connected with the cause as
fully as he was afterwards. The knowledge of
the whole Bar that MIR. Seward was already
concerned might have accounted to you for the
silence at the trial. without the imputaion of
coWardice which your statement implies. 1t is
not certain, but the Inference is fair one from
all the circumstances, that Mr.. seward sought
the case anNiouslv, rs furnishing desirable OPP
portunity to display himself before the people.
Inc insanity oil the negro at the time OF the !
murder was the only defence Mr.. Seward set
up for him., 1t was utterly false. This is con-
clusivey shown by the record. The jury was
impartial, honest and uncommited by any pre-
yious expression Of opinion; the ability and
integrity of the Judge is not denied; il any
reasonable doubt of the prisoners sanity had
been raised by the proofs hisFacquittal would
have been perfectly certain. But the jury, up =,
on their oatlls, found him guilty, and the Judge
satisfied that the verdict was right. pronounced :,
sentence OF death. .
The sample of the argument which You pro- I
tluce shows that, instead of being able and rlo-
quent, il was literally no argument at all. II
has no application whatever to the subject mat :
ter under consideration. 1t makes no auSion
to the evidence. and does not refer, even in the .
remoteSt manner, to any rule principle of | :
law. 1t is 4 mere parade of his own magnani- = y
nous and disntcrested benevolence manifestly T.
not intended to influence the tribunal but to at-
tract the admiration of the outside crowd to | =
himSelf N0thiun callll ha 7