Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-11-10
DEATH OF OLIVER p. moRroN.


death, it is a just decorum that /
nothing shall be said of the deceas-
ed unless it be favorable. But, in
the case ofone largely engaged in the |
political affairs of his country, the
cannot be considered as
after the mortal remains
have been inferred; and it then be-
comes the duty of an honest chron-
icler to give plain record of his
work.
Nothing extenuate, nor aught set down in
malice"
We propose to treat of the career
of Oliver p. Morton in the same
spirit as we might discuss that of
ThemistOcles or Lucius Sulla, con-
templating the good and evil in it
in the clear, cold light of history;
and no man has lived within the
last half century whose acts more
imperatively demand this historical
treatment, for his life was identified
with most important chapter of
our cOuntry's history, and his death
is nothing short of an epoch in that
history.
OLIVER PERRY MORTON was born
in Wayne county, Indiana, Aug.
4th, 1923. His early education was
attained under very adverse circum-
stances, and at fifteen he was APP
prenticed to his elder half brother,
William S. L. Morton, to learn the
hatter's trade. His was not the
mind TO rest content with a me-
chanical occupation, and even while
an apprentice he was noted as Occu-
plying all his spare time in reading.
At nineteen years old he abandoned
his trade and, in some way, secured
an education at Maine University,
Oxford, Iowa. While at college he
was chiefly noticeable as a debaterin
the debating society, which is an in
stitution there as we'll as at all other
American colleges. He was also
fond of music and learned to play
on the clariOnette, but does nOtseem
to have attained much proficiency,
though the taste for music adhered
to him through life.
On leaving college be studied law
and was called to the bar in 1917 at
the age of a. His abilities were
herestimulated to their utmost vigOr
by his having to compete with able
men, such as Newman, Rariden,
Test, Parker, ETC., and in recogni-
ton Of his talents he was appointed
by Governor Wright, Judge of the
circuit in which he had practiced at
the age of twenty-nine 0S52). As
a lawyer he was mainly remarkable
for selecting the strong points of his
cases and forcing them TO their logi-
cal conclusion to the total neglect of
collateral side issues.
Down to 1854, he had acted with
the Democratic party; but at that
time, in the proposed repeal of the
Missouri Compromise, he seemed to
perceive that the contest must soon
er or later be between North and
South, and he at once embraced the
extreme anti-SOuthern position. He
identified himself with all the pha-
ses which that party assumed, which
was at that time superseding the old
Wing party, and shared in their
failures as Know-nothings, Free-soil-
ers, ETC., etc, until he shared in their
success under their new name as the
Republican party. 1t was in 1856
that he entered his first contest as a
Republican, having been nominated
as Il competitor with the Hon. Ash
bel p. Willard for the office of Gov
ernOr of Indiana. He was beaten
in this canvass, but demonstrated
such power as a party leader as to
secure the nomination for Lieu
tenant Governor in 1860, it being
understood that the candidate for
Governor, the Hon. Henry 5. Lane
would very soon become United
States Senator, and that then Nor
ton was to be Governor. All this
went according to programme, and
week after the election he found
himself Governor of Indiana. 1t
was in this position, under the pop
ular appellatiOn of tie great lCdT
G0reTnOi', Mr.. Morton acquired his
truest title to fame. From the first
he proclaimed the doctrine that
the seeding States must be re-
claimed by war. He by no means
found his State a unit upon that sub
ject. 1t is difficult for one reading
the Northern papers of the present
day to realize the fact that, at the
first secession of the cotton States,
a very large number of Northern
men of all parties demurred to the
right of the Federal Government to
hold a State in the Union by force;
such Il demur six months later
would have brought storm of OBJ
lOquy on the man who aVOwed it,
but at the time when Oliver Morton
became Governor of Indiana, such
opinions were very widely held and
no where so extensively as in the
Southern counties of Indiana and
Illinois. 1t was in combating this
feeling and in making arrangements
for meeting the Presidents requisi-
tons for men that Morton exhibited |
the great executive ability which is |
his trueSt title to admiration. War |
once determined upon there was no |
no faltering in the I'M |
firing energy with which he con-
tributed his untiring efforts towards |
carrying it on. We give the follow /
ing recapitufation of his services
from an article in the Cincinnati .
which has furnished Us
most of the facts on which this ar
ticle is based:
His services in the war gave him Nation
al and enduring reputation. These may be /