Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-11-16
From the Norwalk Gazette.
EDITORIAL LETTER.
wAsHrNeron. November Sd. ls7z.

thler deep and shadoWy gloom over tue oeh-
ate and over the Nation. Never have we
witnessed such q subdued sense OF personal
49, cement. such profound silence, and
an tbe morning of the I'd, prevaded the SEN
ate at its opening. The chaplain, Dr. Sun
derland. in his eloquent and fervent prayer,
seemed to echo and carry heavenward, the
silent burden of grief which weighed upon
every heart, as he implored the Divine mer
CIV and guidance for the stricken Nation, the
desolate widow and bereaved children Of
Oliver P. Morton.
After PRAYER, Senator Ransom was the
first to break the silence of that body, by
moving that when the Senate adjourn it be
ill Tuesday next. Then Senator McDon-
aid rose. and with sincere emotion announc-
ed the death of his colleague, and moved
the customary committee to attend the fu-
neral. and the usual adjournment over
Monday, the day of his funeral.
All eyes instinctively rested upon the va
cant chair of the dead Senator. which was
now being shrouded in Grape, while basket
OF smilax and rose buds rested upon and
drooped from the desk. The pivoted arm
rest attached to his desk to aid him in rising.
seemed a mute but touching reminder of
him who was never more to swing himself
upon it as so oft before into the exciting
contests of the Senate.
As was the case with Senator Sumner and
Vice President Wilson, so with Senator
Morton, his disease and his heroic battle
with the inevitable and visible approaches
of death, were identical with those of our
own Senator Ferry. They frequently con-
versed together of their malady and suffer-
ings, and SenEtor Morton, as we personally
know, took greater interest in the develop
ment and progress Of Senator Ferry's di-
seaSe than in that Of his other two COM
peers, because, as he said, its symptoms
were more strictly and exactly similar to his
own. In the last interview the writer had
with Senator Morton, his conversation was
almost wholly concerning the last days of
Senator Ferry, and particularly reioiced in
the one particular, that while his PARALYSIS
was more complete, his neuralgia pains as
excruciating and his dependence on NOR
phia as unavoidable as Senator Ferry's he
still had a good digestion and perfect as
simiIation Of his food. From this, it was
easv to see that he was entertaining hopes
of many wears Of life, before the fatal mala-
DIV should reach the vital functions, and his
wonderful frame and giant brain power sue
cumb to the adversary, paralysis.
In another respect was Senator Morton
most tenderly allied to Connecticut. OF all
the great ''War Governors" upon whom
President Lincoln relied during the dark
days. of the rebellion, there were three whom
he most confidentially depended upon, ad
hered to and trusted. These were Govern
OF John A. Andrews of Massachusetts,, VIM.
A. Buckingham Of Connecticut and Oliver
P. Morton, of Indiana. This trio, were a
tower of strength in council as well as action,
to President Lincoln, to whom he never ap-
pealed in vain. The martyr President, new
er tired of singing them out as especially
entitled to his gratitude, nor hesitated to
openly aYow a sense of his obligations to
them.
More than any other Governor during the
war was Morton entitled to the Nations
gratitude. He was the youngest of all the
bright galaxy of war Governors, save Rhode
Islands. His State was honeycombed with
treason and secret organizations threatening
his assassination and open revolt. The 9TH
er states had at least loyal constituencies in
dominant numbers, but Indiana, of all the
border states was the theatre of the most
desperate efforts on the part Of the anti-war
democracy to give aid and comfort to the
enemy. He fought hack the rebellious
hords Of conspiratOrs within his own bor-
ders, as resolutely and defantly as he battled
the rebels in his front. His democratic legis-
lature refused him money to arm and equip
his soldiers, but he borrows on his own per-
sonal credit and sends six regiments to
Washington in six days, all ready to go to
the front, before other loyal states had start
ed enlistments at all. HIS vehemence and
bitterness in speech, when assailing the enc
mics of his country, were terrible, but in so
cial intercourse ne was as tender and affee-
tionate as a child. This was one Of the ele-
ments of his great power. He always had
a large and an ardent personal following.
To none was his kindness more tenderly
shown than to the poor and the humble,
and no mourners will attend his funeral
more sincerely grieving for his loss, than
the two colored men, John Hunt and John
Milan, who used to carry him to and from
the Senate door to his carriage, when here.
Smarting under the recollections of the
disloyal action of the democracy of Indiana
he delivered his great speech arrsigning
that party of which over two million copies
were printed and distributed ere the de-
mand for it ceased. Such a circuculation
was never given the emanation of any po-
itical leader.
Az bD6 ldSb S6SSlOll uo WAS dppOlul6Q
chairman of the committee to go to Oregon
and investigate the charges of corruption
against the newly elected Senator Grover.
At first he hesitated about going and
urged Senator Wadleigh of New Hampshire
to take his place, but as the time drew nigh
for the committee to start for the Pacific
coast, he could not resist the temptation to
go and although every effort was made to
make the journey comfortable and pleasant
to him, the prodigies of work and travel
that he did, no doubt resulted in this ear
ly breakdown of his physical powers. It
was enough to have reduced and enfeebled
the powers of the most robust of men, and
when the paralyzed condition of Senator
Morton, is considered, it is marvel that
he lived to again reach his home.
The rest IS fully known to all who read.
His own last utterance-'1 am dving-T
am aOOr71 out, B" so pathetically uttered, fitly
closes the career Of this wonderful man.
It will be left for the future historian to do
full justice to his merits. To day, the Ma
tion's flag is half-masted. The President
itly issues his proclamation of coincidence
and the people everywhere mourn another
statesman gone to his grave. in the meri-
dian Of his life, and the full majesty of
his intellectual powers. When shall we
ever see his like again?