Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-05-31

prominent part as some others. 1t
was never his way to force himself into
any position Of prominence, and as he
has risen purely by his talent he has
avoided entirely those jealousies which
often mar the careers of public men. He
was painstaking critic of every law
that was passed, and no man has ad-
dressed the Senate oftener. In 1868 he
stood squarely by the side Of Sumner
and Wade in sustaining Stanton. All
that he could do to pat johnson out of
the White House was done. When
that enterprise failed it was Mr.. Ed
munds who moved vote Of thanks to
Stanton which was carried But the
temper of his action was always In ac-
cord with the speeches of 1866, quoted
ahke. He worked for his party be-
cause he believed that his party was
the friend and supporter of human
rights. In 1869 Grant came into power
and the Senate chamber became the
theatre of novel political scenes. Sum-
ner, Schurz and Trumbull quarrelled
with the administration and finally left
the party. The San Domingo scheme
was the rock on which the party in the
Senate split. and on this question Mr..
Edmunds has most praise-worthy rec
ord. He agreed entirely with Mr..
Sumner in regard to the unwisdom of
Grants course in this affair. But, un-
like Mr.. Sumner, he did not quarrel
with Grant. On the contrary, he main
tanned very friendly relations with him,
but he earnestly urged the President
that his San Domingo policy was un-
wise and against our public policy, and
did all in his power, both privately and
in the the Senate chamber, to prevent
the annexation of that worthless island.
He was fortunate in having the tact,
which Sumner lacked, to get on with
Grant, and the latter has always prais-
ed the Vermont Senator for his PLAIN
and practical good sense. For Mr.. Ed
munds the ex-President has the kindest
feelings, and if it becomes necessary for
him to withdraw from the presidential
contest there is no man whom it will
give him more pleasure to see nominat-
ed than Mr.. Edmunds.
1t is unnecessary to 60 over in detail
the Senate career of Mr.. Edmunds.
There ore few prominent points in his
course since 1870 which it will suffice
to recall to the public mind. In the
long contest over the State government
in Louisiana Mr.. Edmunds was always
an earnest advocate of his party's
claims and supporter of the admins
tration, but he never went as far as
Morton and other extremists, and when
Morton undertook to seat the vulgar
pretender Pinchback it was Mr.. Ed
munds who put his foot down and
blocked that audacious scheme. In this
affair also he avoided any quarrel with
Grant, but he would never have made
all the brutal errors in dealing with the
South that were made by Grant. On
the financial question no man now in
Congress has more admirable record
than Mr.. Edmunds. From the begin
ming of his term of service he was Wig
orous advocate of measures for the re-
turn to specie payment. He believed
that his object could not be obtained
without the adoption of definite poll
cy for years before it was adopted.
When the reaction from the initiation
movement occurred, after the panic of
1873 and the veto by Grant of the
''four hundred million BILL" it was Ed
munds and Conkling who forced the
Republican Senators in caucus to agree
upon the resumption act. This was
passed in January 1875, and no man
has better claim to its authorship than
George F. Edmunds. More recently
his great achievement in originating
the electoral commission act, through
which Mr.. Tilden was shelved and Mr..
Hayes peacefully seated in the White
House. has won for him no little party
prestige, and it is curious testimony
to his courage and ability that while no
other man had so much to do with the
great settlement of 1876, no other man
on the Republican side, who had any
share in it at all, has been so little
abused by his political opponents. l
have heard from prominent democrats
in the Senate the arguments by which
some of them at least were induced to
consent to the scheme of the commission.
In the winter of l876-77, when the
country was so much excited by the
presidential dispute. Mr.. Edmunds car
ried the coolest head in Congress. He
told his Democratic friends that if some
form of arbitration was not devised
there could be but one result of the dis
pute. He said that the two houses of
Congress would meet to count the elec-
| toral votes in their accustomed manner.
The count would proceed, all the re-
turns would be read and at the end the
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