The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-07-17
A OF EX-GOVERNOR WIN.
ALLEN.
"a Great Man has fallen in Israel

"a Great Man has fallen in Israel"
The people of the State of Ohio,
and we might almost add the whole
country, were startled on Friday
morning last at the announcement of
the sudden death of Ex-Governor
WILLIAM ALLEN, at his Fruit Hill
home, of appolcxy, in the 73d year
of his age. No purer statesman ever
lived, no purer patriot ever died.
He was a Congressman. a United
States Senator and q Governor, and
not u speck remains to tarnish the
record of his useful and patriotic
life. Few men have died SO full Of
honors and so free from blame. In
speaking of his death the Cincinnati
Enquirer remarks:
"He was brave and noble and proud
and true from boyhood 10 manhood,
and from manhood to old age. lie
shrank from 40 honorable encounter
in his long life, to which the people
called him, but President jackson had
no appointment in his long list which
young William Allen would accept.
'The honors l court" said The youth
full Democrat, "are those which the
people give me-" He was ambitious,
but he would not betray a friend to Sc
cure the Presidency. Thirty -one
years ago a Presidential nomination
was rendered him, and he said 81
would like to be President, but still,
more do ! want 10 be true to my
friend, Mr.. Case" Loyal As he was
TO his friends, lie remembered his cn-
emies. 1t is believed by many that
he once took a Presidency from an
enemy as a measure of rctribmiye jus
tice. His public life began forty sew
en- ear ago, nearly twenty years be-
fore the present Constitution of The
State was adopted, when Ohio was
but thirty years old when the Capt.
toll of the State was still a migratory
thing; when the elder Ewing had
just entered The United States Senate,
when jackson was President, and
Calhoun had Just ceased to be Vice
President; when Martin Van Buren,
was within one step of the Prcsidcu-
cy when Lewis Cass was Secretary
of War, nearly a score of years before
the Departm ent of the Interior was
created when Roger B. fancy was
Acknowledgement of the United
States, and when Henry Stephenson,
of Virginia, was Speaker of the House
of Representatives. The population
of the United States was then btft4h-
tie more than thirteen millions, and
there were but twenty-fOur States in
the Union. Michigan and Arkansas
had not yet been admitted. The Unit
ed States Senate had just refused to
confirm the nomination ofMartin Van
Buren, TO be Minister to England, and
Andrew jackson had just vetoed the
bill rechartering the United States
Bank. His advent upon public affairs
was in the heroic days. Boy and man,
he was an heroic Democrat. As u
whiteheaded, blue-eyed urchin, he had
shaken hands reverentially with JEFF
ferson and Jackson, and at three score
and ten he was still all eminent de-
fender of theircreed as to hmmangoy-
eminent. He had an unfaltering faith
in the people. He loved the courage
Gus, noble, heroic things. He loved
to talk of Alexander, the Prince for
whom hope was enough. lie spoke
with lofty enthusiasm of the dying
| Washington, who. consciously facing
death, held his finger on his wrist
with his own right hand he felt The
last pulse-beat of his own great heart
A member Of Congress, when a boy
of twenty-six, the earliest air he
breathed in public life was that charg-
ed with the struggle of Andrew Jack
son with the Money Power ofthat
day, and the last sands of his public
life, more than forty years later, fell
telling of his steadfast devotion 10 the
cause of the people in the same great
struggle MS it presented itself TO the
next generation of men in this coun-
try. He was two years in the House
of Representatives, twelve years IN
the United States Senate, and two
years Governor of Ohio, and in these
sixteen years of public service there
was no lisp, even from al enemy, to
mar his stainless name. Amid the
bitterness of ~partisanship, while he
was in the hottest of the contest, the
integrity of William Allen remained
uhquestioned. Indeed, when he was
elected to the Governorship of 0hio
in 1873 it was upon the sole issue oil
public virtue. Every candidate on
the Republican ticket was defeated
save one, while William Allen, drawn
from q delightful and intellectual re-
tirement of q quarter of o century,
was elected because his name and life
were exceptionally white"
"The story of the life of Hon. VII
LIAM ALLEN is told elsewhere in these
columns. We have had few men in
politics whose lives and services are
more to be commended. He had
great earnestness. He had what ii
rare, political integrity. He had in.
tellectual integrity. He was capable
of Catonic virtue. He had also a
quality rare among politicians, In in.
domitable courage. He believed in
the people, and knew thatthey were
ordinarily in advance of their leaders
He was bold to audacity in the ex.
preston of his opinions, not only
when the blood was. young and the
spirit buoyant and the step firm and
strong, but when three o years
and ten had silvered the head, wher
the hand was tremutous, and the stel
tottered, and the face was furrowed
the spirit tainted not from the buoy
ancy Of perpetual youth and the valol
of his convictions put the younges
and bravest politicians to shame. HI
had in him the elements of a grea
leader in politics. lie stopped jus
short of the highest political honors
and at periods almost q generation
+ apart his name was prominently men
| toned in connection with the highcs
office. In the last National Conven