Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-02-01
NUMBER 80.
Mr.. fdmunds's EulOgy on Senator Morton
lin the Senate, January I7th.I

I
lin the Senate, January I7th.l
Mr.. President, the tribute | offer to the
memory OF the late Senator from Indiana,
flows from personal intercourse Of good will
and general sympathy covering the period Of
his whele career in the Senate, from 1867 to
the time of his death, and also from the high
estimate have formed of his extraordinary
ability and the purity and the breadth
of the purposes Of his political life.
The qualities that command the largest
measure OF material success in affairs are
clearness of understanding that brings into
view from the beginning the definite end and
the most available processes by which it is
to be reached, together with that force of
will which is tireless in its persistence and
that quickness Of decision which utilizes in
stantly the commanding points in every cri-
sis, that never leaves an enterprise waiting
upon doubts until the tide that might have
borne 1t on to fortune has recedcd and left
the nascent victory helpless wreck. Men
with such qualities become the founders or
saviours OF States and systems and policies
and they are the leaders of men, not from
the intrigues of craft and cunning or the
| power OF wealth or rank or the traditions Of
a family, but from an innate and rightful
| sovereignty In human nature. These quali-
ties are not those essentially necessary to
oratorv, and they frequently exist without
| it. Conspicuous examples of these differ
enees exist in the history of every people.
The finest flights of Cicero or of Burke had
little effect upon the conditions of the RO-
man or English nation compared with the
plain speech and prompt action of Cesar
or Cromwell.
Although not wanting in many things
which are usually considered to be parts
of oratorieal power, Mr.. Morton's greater
power consisted in the large possession Of
/ the characteristics | have named as belong
ing to natural leaders of men, and in his
| plain but persuasive modes OF impressing
| his views lpon others and the fitness Of
their following him 10 their realization.
As lawyer it perhaps cannot be said
that he possessed that subtlety in dialectics
, and that copiOusness Of technical learning
that would have made him pre-eminent at
the bar in the disposition of cases arising
in the affairs of conventional state of
society and a complicated system of juris-
prudence. But, as has been said OF the
famous French lawyer and statesman,
Odillon Birrot, his real strength lay in
matters (which be could lift into public
events of paramount Importance by re-
ierring them to the broad principles on
which all systems of social order or policy
are based" In discussions of this charac-
ter he had few equals. The graphic clear
ness of his statements, the simple direct
ness OF his logic, and the sense of his
sincere earuestness that he impressed upon
his hearers, placed him fairly among the
most powerful and successful of speakers.
Perhaps the most remarkable period in
his career was while he was governor OF
Indiana, during the darkest days of the re-
bellion. Ills is not the proper occasion to
describe in detail the almost insurmountable
dangers and difficulties with which he was
surrounded dangers and difficulties before
which the hearts of many would have sunk,
and the efforts of many would have failed. |
But his brave soul seemed to grow stronger
as perils increased, and his quickness of
perception and fertility in expedients
generally frustrated the plans of the enc
mics of the Republic, and stimulated to
greater actizity its weak supporters and its
lukewarm friends.
From the arduous and multilarious duties
of his executive life We follow him to this
body, in which he took his seat on the 4th |
of March, 1857.
Here he found pending problems in leg
isation, and concerning the future frame
work and nature Of the Government, as diff |
ticult and embarrassing as any perhaps that
have ever been experienced by a civilized
people. Their nature and scope are fami-
liar to US al.
To their solution Mr.. Morton brought a
r. l.. C,bo
of rights among men that can exist only un-
der the security of provisions Of fundamental
law, and can only be practically defended
and promoted by the enactment of statutes,
and their fearless and vigilant enforcement
by the Judiciary and executive power. His
voice was always raised in favor Ot measures
looking to these ends. To his zeal and yigOr
IN uenate the country is much inGobted ios srv |
of the constitutional amendments and the |
statutes 10 enforce them that have been |
made since the close of the war OF the rebel |
lion. Whatever of failure may have occur
red in realizing all that true liberty under |
the law implies cannot be attributed to any |
want of interest or active effort on his part. |
lie firmly believed that there had been |
great and benefcent change, a IA Stul revolu-
tion in the form of the Government in the |
direction of equal rights, as the lair fruit oi
a revolution that had been attempted in the
interest of slavery and secession and, to
quote the words of the French statesman to
whom have compared him, he believed that
in would be a misfortune moro real than the
woes attending the rebellion itself for
those who hal failed 'to think that there |
had been no revolution, for, for this very
reason, there may be two instead of one.
And in truth, ifa revolution without cause
Is fatally condemned to miscarry, the mis-
carriage is not less infallible for revolution
without effect.
He was a man OF strong passions and great
talents. and was, as a consequence, devot-
ed partisan. He had no faith in that phi
lOsophy of government imputed to Louis Ma
poleon when President of France, which led
him to suppose that he could dominate all
parties by taking ministers who represented
none. lie did not believe that the present
security or the permanent peace of the
country could be obtained without inscribing
the results of the war in the sacred pages OF
the Constitution itself, and in enactlng and
measures of legislation that, if OBJ
served, should make liberty and equal rights
as great benefcencc As without such pro-
lection they would be to the poor and down.
cast n mockery and Il snare. So believing
and so acting, he was consistently conspieu-
Gus in his devotion to the ends he had in
view. In the fields in which his patriotism
was exerted it NAV be said of him, as it was
of the Knights OF Saint John in the holy
wars
In the forefront of every battle was seen his bur
nished mail, and in the gloomy rear OF every re
treat was heard his voice OF constaney and Of
Courage.
Now, when his labors are closed and he
has departed from among US, this high body
rightly sets apart day of solemn memorial
to his memory that, more lasting than monu-
ments Of bronze or of marble, will remain as
long as the records of history endure.