The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-03-03
Jo@.t>sl WELLINGTON o., THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1881.
The Exit Of o War.Horse.

The Exit Of War.Horse.
During the debate on the Electoral
count resolutions in the Senate the
other day Senator Eaton, of Connecti-
cut, having offered an amendment
which was most bitterly partisan, was
grieved that his party colleagues did
not stand by him in its support. The
specific purpose of Mr.. Eaton's amend
ment does not now concern anybody,
since it was Overwhelmingly defeated.
The characteristic feature of the debate
which ensued was the Connecticut Sem
ator's pathetic appeal to his brother
Democrats to stand by him. He said
that he was about to retire{orever from
public life, and that he hoped that this,
which was one of his last public actions,
would meet with the approval of his
Democratic colleagues in the Senate,
and that he might have the satisfaction
of knowing that his latest measure in
the Sa4SaS met with the support of his
party friends. So far from acceding to
his request, the Democratic Senators
endeavored to persuade him to with
draw his amendment, which was,
in their opinion, an obstruction and
bone of contention. But this
was in vain. Senator Eaton was as
determined to force his little scheme as
his party associates were to oppose it,
and the result was that the Senator
from Connecticut alone voted for his
amendment. There was in the Senate
at that time an evident disposition on
both sides of the chamber to compro-
mise existing differences of opinion,
and to make the terms of the Demo-
cratic surrender as easy rs possible.
But Mr.. Eaton would neither surrender
nor abate one jot of his insistence upon
the ultra-Democratic view of the Eleo-
toral count. He went down under an
adverse vote, so to speak, with all his
colors flying. Having failed to rouse
the Democratic majority of the Senate
to q sense of the danger that the Re-
publicans would claim at least SEM
blance of victory, and having been un-
able to stir them by his feeling allusion
to his speedy retirement from public
life, the old man gallantly stood by his
guns to the last. And so his last act in
the Senate was to insist on his own opin-
ion in the face of overwhelming oppo-
sition.
1t is evident that Senator Eaton felt
that something was due to him, as a re-
firing Senator, and as an old Democrat,
and that he had been hardly dealt with
in this special case. In the face of the
united opposition of his Democratic col
leagues in the Senate, he doggedly stood
by his opinion. Although in a hopeless
minority, he could argue still, and still
remain unshaken in his belief that the
extreme partisan view was the only view
which true-blue Democrat could take.
This is what Senator Eaton has been
doing all his life. 1t is because he has
pursued this course that he is now go
ing out of the Senate and out of public
life. He has always been what his
friends fondly call him, "a Democrat
ic war-horse." On every possible oc-
casion he has, figuratively speaking,
paved the ground as he snuffed the bat
tie from afar, and has reared, charged
and cavorted, like the grand old war.
horse that he is. Consistent with his
character, he signalizes mis- departure
from the Senate and from public view
with another of those gallant and in
effective charges into the enemy's camp
which have been the delight of his life,
and he will go home to Con-
necticut. and into retirement, sus-
tanned by the proud conviction that he
has done his whole duty to his party
and his country. For Senator Eaton,
whatever else Ire may not be, is an hon.
est man. There is something at once
ludicrous and pathetic in the spectacle
of an old man obstiuately butting his
head against a stone wall, If we may
use this figure. Just as he is going out
of public life. But it would not be like
Senator Eaton if he were to do other.
wise than this up to the very last mo.
ment of his official existence.
During the late civil war Mr.. Eaton
was what was then known as a copper.
head. He was one who was ready to
cry that the Northern Army should moi
go into Virginia except over his pros
trate form. The Army of the Union
did go into Virginia and come back
again, but it was not over the PROSTATE
form of the gentleman from Connecti.
cut. In like manner he opposed. SO far
as speech-making could oppose any
thing, every step of the war for the
Union, at every point where party VIC.
lence and political agitation could be OF
the least avail. If he had been in the
Chicago Convention which nominated
Mcclellan he would have declared the
war to be failure, and he would have
insisted on that declaration, as very
likely he did. even when Lee had sur
rendered and the rebel President was a
fugitive. For Mr.. Eaton belongs to
that class of politicians who learn moth.
ing and forget nothing. 1t is a class
which is so rapidly disappearing from
public life that one picturesque figure
like his is worth a parting glance oi
attention.
Senator Eaton represents the old
school of American politicians, who
honestly believe that everything is fail
in politics, that to the yictors belong
the spoils, and that to howl and below
is an effective way of convincing ones
opponents in debate. This class of po-
liticaf leader has very nearly died out in
New Englan The war-horse may be
found in the West and South, where a
few fine old specimens yet flourish.
But Mr.. Eaton not only lags superiuous
in the Senate, where so few of his gen.
GRAFTON survive, but even in his own
State he must sometimes feel lonely.
Sincere aud wrong-headed, he has al.
ways been in the forefront of battle,
and when, by series of accidents, il
was in the power of the Connecticut
Democrats to elect United States
Senator, he was the fittest representa-
tive of that reactionary spirit which
kept the Democracy alive through all
the time Of conflict when the
Union seemed most in danger of dissolu.
ton. He has always represented obstruc-
ton, vehement opposition, protest and
fight. He is of those who cannot see
in the work or belief of a political op.
ponent any good thing. With him
compromise is crime, an honest differ.
ence of opinion is insurmountable.
With him, too, politics is thing apart
from every other activity of human
life. The considerations that move men
in other departments of life do not, to
his notion, enter into the field of poll
tics. With the politician of the war