The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-05-26

aspiration points IN the same direction,
but when the hour of sacrifice comes;
when danger and darkness gather about
the former, and the promises of glory are
linked with the latter, it is then that true
courage is evinced and true heroism as
serts its ascendency. 1t is the firm but
fatal step Of the martyr who takes his po-
sition at the stake and stands undaunted
when faggots are piled around him, and
the cracking flames separate the flesh
from the soul which scars away, too
great and noble for its tenement OF clay.
A philosophic historian. in exploring
the records of men, has remarked that
there are few characters which have stood
the closest scrutiny and the severest tests,
which have been tried in the furnace and
have proved pure; which have been weigh
ed in the balance and not found wanting
which have been declared sterling by the
general consent OF mankind, and which
are visibly stamped with the image and
superscription of the Most HIGH But
when some future MAcAULAY shall mar
rate the events Of our bloody drama, and
produce the portraits of those who were
its most conspicuous actors, he will find
indelibly stamped upon the character of
1
superscription Of God.
His mind was one of those rare gifts of
nature which is capable of contracting
itself to the humblest duties or Of expand
ing itself to the highest requirements of
human effort We see him, the leader of
a great party, condescending to become
the commander OF small brigade, and
declaring that be was ready to shoulder
his musket with his sons and become a
private in the ranks Of an army which he
subsequently commanded. Alter having
been Secretary of War and directing the
movements of all the armies of a Confed-
eracy that thundered for four years for
peace at the gates Of the North, and more
than once lighted its camp-fres in the
foreground of Washington, he offers his
services to the sheriff OF Fayette county to
put down the petty disorders of a pre-
cinct.
But he was greatest on the greatest &C.
casions. In the council at Charlotte
Courthouse, which determined upon the
surrender of the slouched and dispirited
remnant of a once powerful army, as well
as on the bed of death, he still possessed
the stoutest heart and the most infiexible
courage Since the war he has Stunned
politics and avoided all expressions which
might augment the burdens Of people in
defence OF whom he had fought and for
whom he had shown his willingness to
die. He readily distinguished what was
accidental and transitory in politics from
what was immutable and essential, and,
while ready to adjust old institutions 10
new state Of society, despised that vulgar
herd who are always willing to barter
the most sacred principles of human lib
erty for the mere pittance OF temporary
success. He preserved throughout the
whiteness Of his soul, and pursued a course
which showed him as great in defeat as in
| victory, as noble in neglect as in the most
elevated station. His was the most daunt-
less spirit in the chamber OF death. When
physicians were bending with heavy
hearts over his emaciated and broken
form; when relations and friends were
choked with sobs and convulsed with the
agony OF go great a loss; when there were
hurrying to and fro and tremblings OF dis
trees, he alone was calm and resolute. He
died as he had lived, the same intrepid
and imperial spirit, conquering fret the
adverse agents Of fortune, and at last dis
arming death Of its terrors. Now he lies
in Lexington, so cold and still, the ruins
of the noblest man to whom Kentucky
has ever yet given birth.
| But what shall we say Of a mind so
gifted and a genius so commanding? As
reasoner and logician he was the equal
of any adversary of his time. As rhe>
torician and an orator he was perhaps the
superior. But he never allowed the lat
ter to overshadow the former. In parts
OF his best arguments in the Senate, DUR
conflict, he finds vent for bursts of patri-
otto and poetic rapture, but he was the
master and not the slave Of his emotions.
The vital imagery which adorned his
speeches never impaired their strength or
obscured the clear common sense on
which they were based. He was massive
without being heavy, and graceful with
out being weak. He who reads his
speech on the removal of the Senate from
the old chamber to the new, and his re-
ply to ANDY JOHNSON just previous to his
withdrawal from the Senate, will find an
illustration Of what We say. The one
"WOuld have made Quintilian stare and gasp"
the other would have captivated and con-
WINGED bench Of august judges. He was
not only a statesman and an orator, he
was also soldier. His was the mind to
grasp extensive military plans, and his
was the courage to execute them with a
calm and noble valor. "If / had an
army" said Gen. LEE, 81 would at once
put 1t under his command" We have
indeed tried to recall character in hiss
tory which we might compare with his
own. But we have failed. He combin-
ed so many of the best qualities Of the
great and good who lived and died before
him, that we can not, without difficulty,
fit his genius 10 the mold ofany one. He
had the vslor and energy of HAMPDEN, the
ardent public spirit Of SYDNEY, the dis
cernment and eloquence Of BURKE, the hui
mainly and moderation of LEE! And
when the youth Of Kentucky. in some fu-
ture peril of their country, shall wish to
gather strength and derive lesson from
the lives OF the immortal martyrs of hu-
! man freedom, they can resort to the spot
consecrated by the ashes Of Kentucky s
greatest son, and breathing an atmosphere
still instinct with the spirit Of the depart
ed hero, their hearts will beat with a
warmer love of liberty and their souls be
enkindled by new and more glowing IN
spiration.
Biographical sketch.