Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-01-31
Romantic Record Of an q. s. Senator.
st. Louis Democrat

ST. LOats Democrat
The career of James Shields, for the
third time successful candidate for the
position of United States Senator. reads
like a chapter of wild romance. There is
nothing like it in the history of this
country. Without exceptional advanta-
ges or abilities of any kind, he has gained
brilliant record as a soldier, fair fame as
a politician, and a fine reputation as an
honest man and patriotic citizen. His
public life, beginning in 1910, covers the
most momentous period of our national
existence He has outived all his more
famous friends ald associates of the Mex
lean war period, and now goes back tc
haunt, like ghost, the halls in which, as
Senator, he mingled on terms Of fellow
ship with Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Ben
ton, Cass, Seward, Chase, Douglas and
Tom Corwin. When young man, strug-
Cling with poverty and law, in Illinois, he
was the intimate friend of Douglas and
Lincoln. He has seen all these great men
pass away, full of honors if not Of years,
and now returns to the scenes of their
triumphs, clothed with a dignity any of
them might have envied. 1t may be said
of him, in the words of Dr. johnson:
'Supernuous lags the veteran on the stage"
But this is not wholly true Mr.. Shields
is not an old man. Born in 1910, he is six
years younger than Lord Beaconsfeld,
twelve years Younger thai, that widest OF
living diplomats, Gortschakoff, thirteen
uoare poupfra, tbon aiepr Wilha1m two
years younger than Marshal MacMahon,
and but five years the senior Of the man of
blood and iron.
He seems old because Of the extent and
variety of his public life. He took kindly
to politics while yet a mere boy. He was
State Auditor Of Illinois in 1910. Six.
years later, though by no means distin-
guished lawyer, he was elected to the su-
preme bench OF the estate. Under President
Polk he was appointed land commissioner.
He left this position to take command OF
the Illinois volunteers in the Mexican war
with the commission of brlgadier general.
| As soldier he Was even luckier than as q
civil officer. Without any marked capaci-
| ty for command, he won great renown as a
| fighter His personal bravery was only
| equalled by his tenacity of life. At Cerro
! Gordo he was shot through the body while
charging battery. A grape-shot tore
| through his right lung and passed out near
his spine. The surgeons gave him up, and
| his death was reported. Yet in ten weeks
| he was again at the head Of his brigade, as
ready for fight or a frolic as any man in
| the army. At Chapultepec he was wound
! ed again. But he held charmed life, and
came out of the war covered with scars
and glory. He was not great general in
any sense of the word, but he was d
| fearless and intrepid warrior. He. never
! asked his men to go where he feared to
venture With him the post of duty was
| the front of battle always.
In fit OF enthusiasm, the people OF lii
! nois made him the colleague of Stephen A.
Douglas III the United States Senate In
| l849. 1t is no injustice to him to say that
| he never did anything to distinguish him.
self in that body. Always a democrat, he
| stood with his party Cd all questions; his
| speeches, if he made any, have long since
! been forgotten. When his term expired
! he was not returned. But he was a born
office-holder, and We next find him resi-
dent of the young state Of Minnesota, and
and candidate for United States Senator.
| He was elected in 1857 one of the first two
Senators elected, and drew the short term.
He served for two years, and after his re-
tirement, he took up his residence in Cali
| fornia. His record in the late war is IA
| andoah he had the honor OF defeatin g
Stonewall Jackson, though the victory was
of brief duration. Too war-broken for ac
tive duty, he retired from the command Of
| the army Of West Virginia, and was sent
| by President Lincoln to C slifornia, where
| he remained till the close of the war, when
he came east, and boughta farm in Carroll
| county, Missouri.
Through all h. remained honest and
| poor. Indeed, these qualities seem as
natural to him as his physical bravery and
tenacity OF life. Few men'could have sur
vived such wounds as he received at Mex
| leo, and as few would have let his oppor-
! tunities for amassing wealth slip by un-
| improved. In 1874 he enjoyed the dubious
honor of membership in the state legisla-
ture. His political resurrection at this
time is due in large measure to the au-
dacious attempt CT Mr.. B. F. Butler to
secure his election as door-keeper of the
house last winter, when +. Polk Was re-
moved from that position.