The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-11-21


From one of the least fulsomo eulo.
gies Of the late Senator Chandler We
take the following:
THAT he was statesman OF the highest
order many will question. and yet, II the de-
amount OF wisdom brought 70 bear Ia the d.
rection OF public affairs, II will be hard To deny
him place among the greatest men OF the
period IA which he lived. he had
done little evil to live after him. in the stern
dictum az the poet. and he has done much
good which will not. IN spite OF the dictum, be
Inferred with his BONES
A public man is public property, liv-
ing or dead; and if, while living, he
has done i'll, death should no more
shield him from blame than rob him
from praise if he has done well. If the
grave is not permitted TO hide the right,
neither should it conceal the wrong.
Character cannot plead the statute Of
limitations as soon as the breath is out
Of the body any more in one cas- c than
in the other.
Zachariah Chandler was not states
man Of the lowest order, much less Of
the highest. He was very able poll
tician, but between politician and
statesman there is vast difference and
distance. Aaron Burr was one of the
greatest Of politicians; Thomas Jeffer-
son one Of the greatest Of statesmen. II
Chandler deserves "a place among the
greatest men of the period in which he
lived then that period certainly was
not fruitful in greatness We have
only to imagine him in the Senate when
Clay. Webster, Calhoun and Douglas
were there. in order TO form q correct
- -. ..tofrar&,,o1 cfaturA He
would have been pigmy among giants.
A man of indomitable energy and utter
ly INSCRIPTIONS as to his means, he be-
longed TO that class which always comes
TO the surface when revolution has cut
the popular mind loose from its
mornings; and when, consequent
ly. leadership depends much more
upon resolute purpose and reck-
less fanaticism than upon either
wisdom or patriotism. He was an
American combination of Danton and
Marat; lacking much Of the genius and
all 81 the generosity Of the former. and
some Of the bloodthirstiness Of the lat
Ter. That he loved his country and
people. we do not doubt. but his coun.
try was only the North, and his people
only his party. Always "A Radical Re-
publican, in 1861 he did not want peace
al anv price. The remark then attrib-
utcd 10 him, that ssthe Union never
would be worth anything without a lit
tie blood-lctting,- is key not only TO
his principles then. but 10 all his policy
since. He never could. or rather never
would. understand that the war was
over The collapse Of the Confcdera-
cy was not 10 him n restoration Of the
Union. but signal 10 renew hostilities
In another arena. The Federal family
was not to be reunited, but 70 be re-
constructed; and his idea of reconstruc-
ton was simply an arrangement by
which Republican dominancy could be
indefinitely pcrpetuatcd. Even the
wings Of lively imagination were
never able to lift him above party con-
sidcrations. He could not conceive Of
National prosperity except as the prod
net Of Republican rule, and probably
wondered how that prosperity could
have existed before Rcpublicanism was
born. As partisan. pure and simple.
he has never had a superior; and long
and patient search would be necessary
TO find his equal.
How much evil Chandler has done
that Will "llve after him. or how
much good that twill not be inferred
with lis bones," we do not undertake
10 say. But we have no hesitation in
declaring that. II stirring up sectional
prejudice and passion. generating
hatred. malice and al observation-disclosures
between Northern and Southern peo-
pie. and as far a. practicable rendering
genuine and permanent union Of the
States impossible, be eyil--he has done
a. much Of it as any man America has
produced. And we have no more hcsi-
iation in declaring that the chief good
he has done. in public capacity i by
setting an example which public men
should avoid. II that example were
generally initiated. with the vigor and
persistence Of the original. the de-
struction Of our Government wOuld be
accomplished before the corpse ~ the
dead Senator had gone back 10 dust.
And If. in the Judgment Of impartial
history. the good thus done balances
the evil, Chandler may congratulate
himself upon the vcrdict.-St. Louis
Republican.