New-York tribune., 1880-02-29


maker, he never "a mere politician 1cr WHICH e'
us thank God and take courage!
If there IS ANYTHING which confirms my belief in
the general tendency of human nature toward the
honest and the honorable. it is contemplation OF
the pubc career of William II. Seward. doubt Ii
he was trained in a good political school Jonn
Adams sitting in his old age over his old foios IN
Quincy bitterly remembering and sometimes SPEAK
ing bitterly, was wont to complain Win suinc'e".
frankness of the corruption and the seh-seeNing u
New-York politics; and curiousy to speculate as hc
raved ont tho conclusions of his political wisdom,
whether his son. John Quincy Adams could possibly
he elected TO the Presidency with New YORK against
him. Mr. Seward certainly began his puDHc Iiio
under temptations to swerve from the pain Oh Sio'
noIitjca honesty, which might have proved fatal to
a less virtuous character. But the man was nher
than his surroundings. He seemed always to be
| trvinc to get away from the schemers and the
sbnfDers. the intriguers and the tricksters Ii he
| started with some use of the ant-Masonlc excite
| ment. when ne was hardly thirty years OF age 10
| secnre n seat in the New-YOrk Senate. he grew
| speedily wiser and larger in all his ways ana
methods. 1t is no part of my present purpose 10
write elaborately of his political career; but wlsn
+o evnress NOT for the first time the conviction that
Mr. Seward could seldom. In his whole public lie,
| for moment. however tempted, dvest himself IN
| his action of his strict love of right lie seemed
alwaysto move about in an atmosphere OF integrity;
and | am honestly of the opinion that TO TINS day'
! maugre his great services at critical pefous' the
! man is not honorad and admired as he should be.
sometimes wish that we had him now. But L
am wandering from the path which nave
proposed to myself-let me return to
the record have in my minds eye picture which
I may eudeavor however inadequ ately, to repro
duce 1t was upon a dreaIy day in December, lSoo,
that nv friend Colonel Ezra Lincoln, said to me Ill
Boston: "Mr. Seward is at the fremont House
let us 90 up and see him." Mr.. Seward was on bis
way to Plymouth. where, upon tho coming ore
fathers Day, he was to deliver the oration'
| was only too happy TO accept the IN
vitation would would say nothing moro OF
the interview if l did not think that all the
! circumstances afforded some illustrations or the
! character and career of Mr.. Seward. We found the
| Senator and statesman solitary and alone, slt-
ting by the fire in the geptlemons parlor, reading
| obook which was lust published, and which proved
| to be "Lewess Life of Goethe" He made some
critical remarks upon the work, and said that he
! had cone down that morning to Messrs. llcknor ~
Fields to procure il. With some lingering literary
tastes which many years of hard. practical work and
inadequate cultivation had failed entirely to extn-
guish ! warmed at once to Member OF Congress
who cared for Goethe. and could find consolation
in reading him at a tavern fire on a foggy December
! naming | thought then that Mr.. Seward seemed
to be a little hurt that nobody had before called
upon him for his ARRIVAL had been announced IN
the morning newspapers He said Il have seen
| nothing of -, nor of -, nor of -" and
| then shutting his book with mild emphasis. he
asked when the next tram started for Plymouth
where his Grafton was the day following to be
| delivered I am in doubt whether he said In so
many words, that he was anxious to be away, but
| | caught his feeling from every look and gesture
| knew well why he had seen nothing of - nor
| of - nor Of -. The reader, II lie VIII
consider the date 1S55) will understand why
Beacon-st.. and other respectable streets of the
| West End, forgot that Mr. Seward was In town. lie
was emphaticay a man of conscience, ana con-
science lust then working hard to hold It's own
| in the vicinity of the fremont House. lie went
awav TO speak of "Tbe Pilgrims and Liberty"
| close bv the Rock of tho FOrefathers. and to say
| once more, as he had often said, that fidelity to
| trnth was the only conservative herosm. 1t was
something to have seen him only the day before he
said Come forward. then, ye Nations. States and
| races-rude savage oppressed and despised-en-
| slaved or mutually warning among yourselves as Se
are-upon whom the morning star OF CIVILIZATION
| hath either not yet dawned or hath only dimly
| broken amid clouds and storms. and receive the
assurance its shining shall yet be complete, and ITS
| light be poured down on all alike" Those who IN
| the least comprehend Mr.. Stewards character VIII
| also comprehend why venture to quote the words
BOSTON was. in fact at that time passing, at pace
! ,h;cb IN soma of us seemed singularly retarded,
from, tha belated conservatism, which books and
| Thought and the inevitable catastrophe when was
| impendiuQ had failed to enlighten. There were
men In the pulpit, at the bar or engaged IN other
liberal avocatons who utterly failed to appreciate
| fbo lcbp cd n nd cu l.
| tivated of these was Mr. George Stillman Hillsrd.
He was contemporary with Mr. Sumner at Harvard
| Collepe graduating two years before him, and each
had an excellent prospect OF success In public
lifs If ANYBODY had thought 1t worth while to
make wagers upon the future achievements OF these
younQ men, Isuppose that the odds woulds have been
about equal. 1t was only when the time for moral
muscie arrived that the superiority of Mr.. Summers
fibre became observable. In the storm OF politics
which soon came Mr.. Hllard who could write brill
| iant ESSAYS construct clever books, which the
committees were only too glad to introduce into
tbe scbools tell in elegant language of his travels
in Itay, critically collate the works of Wal
for Savage Landor and edit Chaucer. proved
how little be understood the science of pub
lie affairs. take him with all his
merits. as a type, lie had read in week more
hooks perhaps. than Mr.. Henry Wilson had read in
his Gfetimei but all of them together had not
given him the wisdom which the shoemaker had
brought from his bench to the State House. AS the
hattie ragged more and more fercely, 1t was posi-
tive pain to hear Mr.. Hlllard talk. He thought
that all might be again if only people would
hold their tongues. if only Boston would send back
fugitive slaves without making any foolish fuss
about the matter, if public men would read Burke
and The Boston Courier, and profit by the reading
if the compromise measures were treated with oDe'
dent respect if voters would vote with the morl-
bund Wing party. for Bell and Everett, and not fol
Lincoln. With revolution at hand, with civil wal
impending, with the hearts of men full of indlgna-