The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-11-08
The Late Senator Morton.

~
Senator, now no more, we may leave to
those who live in the part Of the Union
where he lived and knew him well the task
Of writing his history. TO give some &C
count OF his public life is the duty OF the
press, as. his career is intimately woven
with the public history of the Union for
many years. In performing this duty we
are sure we do not wrong the dead in copy
ing the following sketch from the Chicago
Times, printed, indeed, before the Senator
died. hut after it had been decided that he
could not long survive. We erase from it
some Objectionable sentences not essential
to the sketch = r.. ..... 49,. e
| OLIVER p. MoRToS.-The approach of
death makes the world Kind even to those
whom i'm life it was wont 10 characterize III
terms OF simple justice. To write COM
mendation OF Oliver =. Morton, while ne
stood menacingly before the country fu-
rious partisan, having no charity for oppo..
nepts, W hom be rarely judged as ne would
now wish to be judged, was nnpossiDie.
His nature was singularly devoid OF charity.
Ambition first; and, in his last years, the
bitterness, of his disappointed ambition
|
withoutapparentlyd diminishing the s'rehs'n
OF his intellect. -@t|
Those whom the ties of kindred bind to
him have had better opportunity to find
praces and virtues in his private character
Than thew who knew him simply as pub
lie man. What faults in private he had
NAV we'll he left now to those whose affcc-
tion ALWAYS condoned them.-~-~.
| Asa public man bis career has been bold,
forcible. scli-conscous, and bitter. lie was a
noliticai product of the war Of the rebellion.
His early partisan affiliations were with the
Democrats, by whom he was elected to the
circuit bench of his native State. When
the issue OF negro slavery narrowed down
party platforms to q single plank-the black
! freeman on the Republican platform-Mor-
ton cut his old ties and became an eman-
cipationist. He had the converts zeal, and
applied it to the advancement Of his personal
fortunes. In 1852 Democratic Judge, he
became in 1856 the Republican candidate for
Governor of Indiana, and, without securing
his election, so closely pressed his COM
petitor that he was nominated in 1860 for
Iicutenant- G overnor and elected. Henry
S. Lane, sGovernor-elect, became senator
two DAYS after his Inauguration, and Nor
ton erasped the immediate object of his am
bition, the Executive chair Of the State. lie
used his acknowledgement functions
| with the audacity Of despot and the craft
Of demagogue. Instead OF gradually
drawing together the two great parties
| whose raucor was engendered by the war
question, he separated them more ana
more. lie made the bloody chasm wider,
whose policy should" have been to fill
it. In no northern State was the anti
war feeling more violent. and its violence
| k-sI ,,,fo tn nfF
duct. He alienated by insult, arrogance,
yituperation, and the abuse Of power, that
large class OF the community who, at the
outbreak OF the war, were not OF positive
inclination either way. Men who loved the
national Union as much as he, honestly
doubted, in the beginning, whether the war,
instead Of preserving, would not destroy
the Union; men az thoroughly convinced
OF the negro's rights to be man and citi-
l zen, accoI ding to the Declaration OF indie
pendence, grayely questioned whether the
enfranchisement OF few Ignorant and bru-
tai blacks was worthy OF the immense loss
of life, the waste OF resources, and the ap-
palling misery of national civil war.
Morton's almost fanatical conduct toward
this portion Of the people Of Indiana
had the effect OF organizing rebel senti-
ment which might never have existed, or
would have existed only in insignifcance,
had he been unselfish, sincere, frank, and
coneilatory. He made rebels of the In
diana Democrats in order that he might
bnve the reputc of discpllning them. On
the other hand, insincere rs he doubtless
was, his very excess of energy strengthened
the national cause and imbued the State
military with ardor and devotion. His
aggressiveness rendered him the most avail
able candidate in 1853, and he was reelect-
ed. His celebrity in supplying troops at
tracted the attention Of the entire country,
and made him target for eXtravagant cen
sure and equally extravagant applause. He
did not wait in every instance for the Presi-
dents call. He had the States quota ready
. before the call was issued; and Of the 20S,-
367 men furnished by Indiana for the ma
tional cause, all but II, 900 were volunteers.
He organized the State militia to the num-
Der OF $4,000 men, filled q State arsenal
with the best armament, and equipped
State agency for looking after the welfare
Of the troops on the field and in the hos
pitfalls. The Legislature seconded his
efforts with generous appropriations, and
his management Of the finances was
intelligent, courageous, and successful,
Notwithstanding his fierce quarrel with
the copperhead" lawmakers, who adj
iourned in 1862 without passing an appro-
priation bill, Morton having induced Re-
! publicans enough to withdraw in order to
make a quorum impossible, because his OPP
ponents in the Legislature were clearly re-
solved to curtail his powers. He borrowed
S250,000 from the National Government,
and balanced it against the amount pre-
viously advanced by the State. He estab-
lished financial bureau for the State, to
which the people contributed over 81, 000,-
600. Ill., .. ....t..-... '..
| Hisprestige as the e" war governor" placed
| him ut the head of the list OF candidates for
| the United States Senate, to which he was
elected in 1866, and he took his seat March
4, 1867. He seems never to have realized,
! during his active career in the Senate, that
the war was over; that he was not still en-
gagged in suppressing treason and enlisting
volunteers; and the hypothesis upon which
his public conduct rested appeared 10 be
that keeping on fighting the South would
make him President OF the United States,
as it had made him Governor OF Indiana,
He was the, author. if there was an eS-
elusive author, OF the policy of the
'rbloody shirt" Under that standard he
hoped 10 become President, under it he
constantly rallied the veterans Of the war,
and by Haunting 1t in the face OF the South
he nourishcd sectional discord for the ap-
parent purpose of maintaining q "solid
North purity to send him to the White
House. He could not see that the signs OF
the times were signs Of peace. His. ambi-
ton clouded his Vision, while it never per-
mitted his energy to lessen. He recognized
| m Love Ifu hut gNu I'm o ,rt~