The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1875-05-23
OUR DEAD HERO,
ICOurier-JOurnal,l

Gen. John &. Breckenridge IL dead.
After u long and painful illness he ex-
pired yesterday surrounded by rela-
tivcs and friends, who gathered about
the chamber of death to soothe with
the consultations of love the dying hour
of one of the n0blest and most heroic
of the sons of men.
A sketch OF his life and public servi-
ces we give elsewhere, but no mere
sketch can be adequate to convey Il
full idea of the genius and character OF
the great Kentuckian who has just
passed away from earth. The private
incidents OF his career, which are now
crowding In mournful procession upon
the minds of those who were most in
timately associated with him during
his stormy and eventful life, illustrate
more wildly than public acts the ele-
ments of that singularly noble and
generous character which is now COM
initted to the judgment of history aud
posterity. 1t is the motive always that
imparts color to the deed, and If the
impulses which prompted every step
of the departed statesman and soldier
were disclosed by those whom he admit
tedtO his confidence, the world would
then, and then only, appreciate the
virtue and value of that chivalric soul
that yesterday took its eternal flight
from earth.
1t is with a mOurnful tenderness that
we recall the familiar traces of those
strikingly handsome and expressive
features which marked him as one OF
the most commanding of men. We
dwell with afiectiOnate feelings upon
the strong and noble face, the burrows
of the cheek, the clear cut lines of the
mouth, the large and eloquent eyes, rs
the portrait bends down upon us from
the gallery of memory. And as we are
reminded that the picture has vanished
from the real world, that the imposing
form has passed from us forever into
the ruin of decay, we are filled with n
sorrow that almost disqualities US for
the work Of sketching a character so
exalted and of embalming u memory
so majestic.
In disposition he was as gentle and
tender as a child. Neither penury nor
atfiiction, nor disappointment, nor
abuse, nor prescription, nor neglect
could disturb his sedate, equable tenn
per. Just rs 1t was when he presided
over the senate as the most popular
vice president in the United States, it
when he had returned from
exile, reduced in fortune, with all his
early hopes stacked In defeat, and with
all his early aspirations fading before
the darkness of an august calamity.
John G. Breckenridge was not with.
out ambition, but it was not the am
bition that sought the monument for
the monuments sake. 1t was the sub
lime aspiration of generous mind
which possessed faculties transcending
all professional Limitations, and which
pinned only for wider fields of useful
ness, and nobler theaters of action.
Enthusiastically nominated for presi-
dent against his earnest protest by the
Baltimore convention, but apprecia-
ting the peril to his country, which he
foresaw would result from division in
the democratic party, he commission
I'd q friend to visit Mr., Douglas and
suggest that both Withdraw from the
,ontest that a compromise candidate
might be selected who would be able
% restore harmony and invoke peace.
He was always the master and not the
lave of that love of fame which Mil
on tells us is "the sublime infirmity
Il noble minds.n HE tasted of the
up Of Circe, but he was fascinated by
Is sweetness He sub0rdinated every
SEPARATION to duty, and obeyed Its cal,
whether 1t directed him along the flow
ry paths of successful enterprise or
yer forbidding walks which led him
My to penury and persecution. We
ee him, one of the most graceful and
owerful orators of the senate, with
be dazzling splendor of an almost un-
aralleled career before him, turning
nth disdain from the trophies offered
" q new and triumphant party, and
referring to cast his lot with a cause
onsecrated by his conviction and hall
owed by his love Of right, but which,
With prophetic vision, he early saw
ould only reward him with the pains
nd penalties Of prescription. He was
evoted to the old Gag, but he refused, In
he presence Of the assembled senate,
to follow it over the ruins of the con-
titutiOn.n He scorned alike the gold
nd the elephants Of Pyrrhus. 81 II
10 Is only In such conflicts Of. duty
18th ambition that true heroism Is
Manifested and the nobleness of a
reat nature disclosed. 1t Is easy to
'llow duty when aspiration points In
le same direction, but when the hour
sacrifice comes when danger aud
arkness gather about the former, and
le promises of glory are linked With
le latter, 1t IL then that true courage
evlnoed and true heroism asserts its ,
tia the firm but fatal