The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-11-02
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NO news the death Of this distinguished
man bu. It seems scarcely possible that
bswill be alive when these lines appear
In print. Oar last news left him at
deaths door, and ere daylight returns we
.pprehend he will have passed away.
4, regards mere age, Senator Morton,
with his matchless constitution, should
have lived twenty years longer, and been
intellectually strong and influential all
III. time. lie Is now only 81 years old
jus! in the prime Of liIe-and he dies just
when the vast experience Of his active
life could be made 'erviceable for the
good Of the country in the support OF the
Pte.ident's wise admiuiAtra.ion,
Ia one sense Of the word 1t seems as II
in til. order Of Providence Senator Nor.
ton. career may haze terminated a! ihi,
time, lie hal mission in life peculiarly
his own. He was pre- eminently fitted for
the stormy epoch Of the Republic through
which he has figured 40 largely and infu.
sn,ially. He was power in the land dur.
ing tie war, 90 great a power that he
was called "the right arm Of the govern
nent" during the dark and critical days
Of drai. riots and OF the secret and
reasonable order known as the "sons Of
Liberty He literally crushed out that
Order in the Yves. by his tremendous en-
erSy and courage. BE hunted IT down
aud sxterminated it. This is one reason
Why the dislOyal element in the Demo-
cratic party hated Morton so bitterly
during the war, and to this day they have
not iOrgivenhim.
Morton never knew what it was to quail
in any emergency. He was the cqur De
Lion among the war Governors Of the
North. He made the State OF Indiana
the war State par excellence OF the
Union by the vigor OF his executive
ability. he put her in liue when treason
vas riis all around him, in spite OF such
men as VOORHEES,, Hendricks and Jesse
D, Bright, and he kept her in the front
throughout the struggle.
For such service a. this no words Of
encomium are too extravaglnt for Oliver
P. Morton. The nation owes him debt
OF gratitude second to none other. He
was such part and parcel Of the war
that in history never can be written
without embalming his memory with the
greeuest Iaurels. he will live in that
record forever along with Lincoln and
Stanton.
Since the war Morton has made his
fame in politics. And in politics his re.
cord has been as peculiar as in war. He
vas Governor Of Indiana until 1865. In
June Of that year he made his great anti
Johnson speech, and fred the heart Of In.
diana and Of the whole country by his
powerful arraigumeut Of JOhusOn's re-
construction policy, and in the following
January was sent to the U. S. Senate,
rers he at once, as Ingersoll said Of
Blaine, became "leader Of leaders"
And this position he has held ever since.
By his great intellect not less than by bis
iadomitsble will, he has ruled in the coun
cils Of the Republican party, and more
than any other mUn moulded its poll.
ey to the end OF Grants administration.
Morton had one conspicuous quality
in common with Henry Clay, and perhaps
with all party leaders. Although imperi.
Gus and exactiDg he knew how to yield to
the inevitable. More than once he sell
himself against the tendencies OF the Re-
publican party, particularly in the early
stages OF the negro-sutFtage agitation, and
again on the greenback question, but he
soon discerned his mistake tso to speak,
and resumed his leading position in
the party. We should not on this
account call him lacking in states.
nanship. He did, 1t is true, like
the great Burke, "give to party
what was meant for mankind" but Alex.
suder H. Stephens says that all statesmen
mast occasionally stOop to conquer, and
to that end must cater to public senti-
ment. Morton did not always discern
correctly, nor did he always have the
courage OF his convictions. There is
reason to suppose that he, like both Clay
and Webster, pursued his career during
late years with an eye o n the Presidency.
This made him too much OF a machine
politician, great as he undoubtedly was.
He catered too much to the Southern
negro element with a view to the Presi-
Dental nomination, and jet failed at the
last, as he deserved to, and no doubt died
sorely disappointed.
Looking back then upon Senator Nor.
toms career from this standpoint, who
shall say that it has not accomplished its
mission. He served, as we believe, a
great end, not only in the war but alter.
wards, in breaking down Andrew John.
son and in powerfully educating and
cOeFcing the public prejudices of the
country up to the adoption Of the Con-
'titutionAl Amendments tha. saved to
this generation and to posterity the re-
suits OF the war. No man knew better
how to thus eOercs the preiudices Of the
people. He kept alive the war feeling
and held up the ghOstly spectres OF the
war to the very last He made use oil
Them as long as possible, and thus kept
out of power the dangerous and reac-
iIonAry element that up to two years ago
v" formidable menace to the stability
~ Al.