The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1875-12-09

soli and with bef old.fashiohc3 schools
1t which tllc modern professor would
slirag bis shoulders. That little state
the land of cheap gravestoncs add poor
relstioas, So somebody has called l,-~
gave hirih and nurinre 10 Webster and
Cdase. to Greeley and Wilson. and nprs-
cd them an Ia pluebing poverty for high
position and wide Influence
( The main portion Of Wilson'S pnblIc
career was his warfare upon American
slavery, and for that he will be justly
famous Il Is nearly forty years now
sipce bis Grst visit 20 Washington Gun.
dertakcn, no doubt, with impulse Of
youthful smbition aud curiosity, for even
/ Wilson dreamed Of political nlure)
made him al heart an abollionisl. A.
soon as be became powerful 10 the whig
party, he used his power against slavery,
ana be knew no other work until thc
overthrow Of slavery was achieved -cx-
cept, of course, the incidental tasks that
inevitably draw aside The reiormcr who
is also i politician Perhaps the Young
men ol the nation, who are now succecd-
I log to the labors of Wilson and sumner
aud Andrew, do not fully comprehend
what an undertaking il was to abolish
slavery, when Wilson Joined with the
lew who then contemplated that result.
slavery was everywhere intronched-it
controlled both political parties, the
churches, the colleges, the markets aud
the courts; most OF all, its strength lay In
the deep-rooted conviction Of our people
that il was necessary part Of our ma
tional oNjstence--not TO be removed with
, ont destroying the nation. The force Of
mind, the heat Of conviction, the uncon-
querable energy aud persistence Of pur-
pose when finally made emancipation
not only possible, but inevitable, have
not yet had full justice done TO them,
save in the obscure and loyal sentiment,
now supreme in the American heart, that
the abolitionists were the sayiors rather
than the disturbers Of the country.
The record OF his life can spare the
praises that wait upon oratory and liter
airy skill Themistocles could not play
the harp, but he knew how to save his
country. Why should not the old guard
Of anti-slavery- men, young or old,
who stood by Wilson aud sumner when
most of those who now praise them were
dumb or hostle-why should we not
glory little in the record of our iriendT
Let the generation that is now coming
forward understand, then, that they are
not to Judge our American statesmen by
the sordid and aimless squabbles OF these
latter years--the quarreling gofcamp-foliow
ers over the spoils of yictory-but by the
glorious and painful years that made vic
tory possible. Here lies the man dead
who, with all his faults, never sought OIL
fee TO enrich himself, to reward his
irionaa or punish Dis enumius, WV aioa
poor as he bad lived, in an age when II
was thought no shame to accumulate for
tunes ont of the public treasure. This is
be, SO faithful to the good old cause that
be could allow himself, and was pardon
ed by his friends, in a decorous and un-
chartered freedom Of action; who yet
never missed roll.call when the battle
was hot, never turned bis back on the
foe, nor refused to serve in the ranks,
whoever might be his captain or his com
pany. This was man who persevered
to the end, not because he was too proud,
and steady to waver, but because he felt
in bis heart the instinct of freedom and of
popular government, that, in the long
run, was sure to bring his compass right,
however the needle might trsverse and
vary. Ills voyage is ended, his fleet is
almost disbanded, but the flag floats
where be and his companions planted II
The poet VINO Iauded Cromwell as the
hero that
Could by Industrious yaor climb
forum the great work cfTime,
And cas-, the kingdoms old
Intoanolher mold
would, II living in our time, have seen a
yaster work Of time happily ruined, and
the old kingdoms Of oppression cast per-
manenty into a new mold, by the small
band Of fabolitionists among whom Wilson
always ranked himself. Whatever the
future Of our politics be, the past is Sc
cnre. and so is The Ienown Of Henry