New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-27
ELLSUORTU.

propriate ceremonies, a monument to Col.
Epbraim Elmer Ellsworth, at his native vii
lage of Mechanicsvile in this State. Few of
those who share in this tribute of respect to
his memory know what manner OF man he
was. The noise and Gclat of his death, the
fact that it occurred in the dawn OF the first
day of war on the Potomac, that he was the
first officer of rank who gave up his life Tor
the country in the struggle against the slave
holders Rebellion, are doubtless the chief rea-
SONS that his fame has Outlasted that of most
Generals who fell in the course of the con-
flict, and that to-day, thirteen years after his
death, the State gives him monument and,
so far as the State can give 1t, an apOtheoSis,
denied to men of greater rank, more distin-
guished services apd three. times his years.
But there are others, who were closely asso-
ciatcd with him in his days Of Obscurity and
poverty who think that his early death robbed
him of far more than il conferred. They say
that if Napoleon had been killed at the siege
of Toulou his history would not have been
unlike that of the boy-colonel of the Fire
Zouaves. There were many points IN common
between them. IN his bOyhOOd and early
youth, Bonaparte showed many Of the same
traits Of character which gained for Ellsworth
the devoted attachment or the bitter antipatby
of every one who came in contact with HIM.
Both had the same rugged strength in
diminutive physique; the same absorbing pas
sion for arms and contempt for everything else;
the same impcrious force of will, and arrogant
self-conceit, and the same boundless and ardent
ambition. Bonaparte never for an instant
doubted that he was to conquer and govern
the world. Ellsworth, when he was lawyers
clerk, living on a dollar a week, eating dry
bread when he had it and going hungry when
he had spent his money for books, peOpled
his garnet with magnificent dreams Before
he was twenty, he had plan for the conquest
of Mexico and the annexation of Genital
America. He intended to be Secretary of
War, for the purpose of organizing the militia
of the United States, but finding that with
the present laws the Federal Executive could
not manage it, he proposed to be Senator
first, so as to initiate the necessary legislation;
and with that purpose he entered Mr. Lincoln's
office, because Lincoln was the leading lawyer
and politician of Illinois. He came with the
President to Washington, wanting to be Chief
Clerk in the War Department, but while he
was waiting, the war broke out and there was
no place for him but in the field. In an in
credibly short space of time he raised his
extraordinary regiment, and brought it to
Washington, gave it some semblance of drill
and discipline, and was killed before he had
chance to show what was in him as soldier.
But if the report of his intimate friends can
be trusted, he was a man of singular power.
Entirely uneducated he had the speech, the
manners, the address of a man of the world.
He was fluent and graceful speaker. He
wrote with instructive force and clearness. His
strength was apparently incxhaustible; he was
known sometimes to work twenty-four hours
at once and appear on parade after it as fresh
as ever. His mere voice had more influence
on a crowd than policeman's badge and
club. When Wizards Hotel took fire in Wash
ington, he snatched the trumpet away from
laggard foreman, and his orders were Obeyed
without question. He was a boy, every inch
of him no old head on young shoulders; but
head and heart and blood all full of the fire,
eagerness, strength, and weakness of youth
The speakers to-day will waste good deal of
time in discussing the question whether he
met his death wisely or recklessly. If it was
as many say, yielding to bOysh temptation
to tear down with his own hands the sole
Rebel flag in sight of Washington, which he
had often seen from the White House win
dows, the fault appears a venial one. 1t needs
no explanation or apology; it was perfectly
natural act III a soldier of his years And if
we may accept the estimate which some of
his friends place upon him, We shall have
small reason to regret his early death. His
example called into the service thousands of
ardent youths while, If he had lived and
gained the prominence which his own abil-
tiles and the favor of the President would
have given HIM, we should have had among
us now a man of tremendous prestige and
force who was so much of soldier that he
could never have been genuine republican
citizen.