Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1874-03-12
DEATH OF SENATOR SUMNER.

The telegraph brings the melancholy
news ofthe death of Senator umner
He expired i'll Washington at z. NJ.
Yesterday. after a brief and painful i'll
ness. 1t appears from ouradvice> that
he was conscious up TO the last mo-
ment. With the death of Senator
Sumner goes out of the brightest
intellectS thai has ever adorned Amer
lean history. The leading events of
the life Of the now illu>triouS dead
should be familiar TO most of Il read
ers, VET a brief biographical sketch is
not deemed out of place on this occa-
sion.
Charles Sumner was born in Bos-
ton. Massachusetts, January 9TH. ISL.
His father. who was a lawyer, diel i'll
1889. The son received his early edu-
ca:ion at the Boston Latin School, and
graduated at Harvard College i'll l>3o.
He continued in private the studies of
college life for a year. and then entered
the law school at Cambridge. where lie
formed with his teacher. Judge Story.
an intimate friendship. which con-
tinued until the death OF that eminent
juriSt. He was admitted To the bar in
1854, and soon attained a larger prac-
tice than any other lawyer in Boston
SO young in the profession. lie vas
appointed Reporter of the Circui,
Court of the United States. in which
caracity he published three volumes
known as Summers Reports con-
tanning decisions :;of Judge Story. He
also. at the same time. edited the
american Jurist.' a quarterly law
journal of high reputation. During
the first three Winters after his admis-
sion to the bar, While Jul-e story
was absent in Washington. Mr.. sum
ner was appointed lertu err to the Law
students, aul part Of the time. during
the absence of Professor Greeuleat.
he had sole charge of the school.
His favorite topics We're those re-
lating to Constitutional law and
the law OF nations. He visited Europe
in 1887 and remained abroad until 1910.
Returning 10 Boston he resumed the
practice of his profession. Though al
ways a staunch Whi-, he took no ac-
tive part in politics until about ISIS.
on the 18th of July of that year he de-
livered an Grafton entitled The True
Grandeur of Nations,' in which.
prompted by the menacin- aspect OF
,T:.- ll.,.z,, IL J-..-i 49, z-1
Mexico, he denounced the war system
Is the ord, al by battle still unwi>ely
continued by international law as the
arbiIer of justice between nations, and
insisted that this system ought 10 give
way to peaceful arbitration for
the Adjudication of international
questions, as the private ordeal of
battle had given away to such >ub>ti-
tu.es in the administration OF Justice
between individuals. His Grafton at
trac;ed unusual attention. led to much
c)ntrover>y,an was widely circulated
both in America and Europe. 1t Wa
pronounced by Mr.. Golden to be 1.-The
most noble contribution made by any
modern writer to the cause of peace
He opposed the Mexican war; also, the
annexation of Texas, on the ground o.
slavery; and i'll 1916 addressed the
Wing STATE Convention of MasSarhu.
sets on "the anti-slavarv duties of the
Wing party These steps led. even.
tually, to Mr.. summers separa.
ton from the Wing party and
association with the Free Sellers. t
whose candidates, Van Buren, ant
Adams, he lent efficient support in the
Presidential contest of Isis. After the
withdrawal of Mr.. Webster from the
Senate Of the Unitel States by his en-.
trance into the Cabinet of Mr.. Fill
more, in 1850, Mr.. Sumner wa nom
mated for the vacancy by a coalition o
Free >oilers and Democrats in the Mas.
sachusetts Legislature, and was elected
after a most earnest and protracteG
contest, which attracted the universe.
attention Of the country. and the ter
mination of which vas publicly cele.
brated in many places by the Anti
Slavery party. His first important
speech in the Senate was upon the Flu.
gitive Slave act, against whic. he
argued that Congress had no power
under theC Constitution to legislate fol-
the rendition of fugitive slaves; and
If it had, the act in many essential par
nculars confiicted with the Constitu-
ton, and was cruel and tyrannical. In
this speech Mr.. Sumner laid down the
doctrine which ever afterwards GOV
ernen him in his political actions, to
wit: that Z" freedom wa national and
slavery sectional" In the debate on
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
and on the contest in Kansas, Mr..
Sumner took a very prominent part.
His last speech upon this topic occu-
pied two days in its delivery, May 10Th
II Goth, 1856. 1t was some passages