The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-02-15
DEATH OF Ex.Gov. MORGAN.
a Sketch of His Life and Public Ser
UfnHs.

vices.
NEW YORK, 14.--Ex-Gov. E. D. Morgan
oled at 8 O'Clock this morning.
Inc Supreme Court, special term, on motion
oL WIN. M. Evarts adjourned out of respect to
ene memory OF Ex-Governor Morgan today,
ana the police commissioners at late meeting
ordered all station flags to be suspended at half
/ mast tomorrow
Edwin d. Morgan was born in Washington.
Massachusetts, February s, 1911. In his sew
enteenth year he removed to Hartford, Conn,
where he entered a grocery store and was sub
sequently admitted a partner. Five years
later Mr.. Morgan, then twenty-five years of
age, sought in the city of New York a wider
neld for his ambition, and in 1886, having
Capital of $4,000, embarked in the same line of
business in the metropolis. Twenty years later
nc was one of its foremost and most substan-
tiai merchants, with an enviable reputation
Ior industry, penetration, tact, sagacity and in
tegrity.
Gov Morgan associated himself with the
wing party soon after moving to New York,
although an anti-slavery man, and was in 1S49
elected an assistant Alderman He was after
ward chosen President of the board. This was
the worst cholera year New York has ever
known, and Mr.. Morgan showed his unselfish-
ness BY remaining there and assisting the poor,
Wnen majority of those who could afford it
ned from the city. He was elected to the
state Senate as Wbig in 1850, and although
tnat body was Democratic, he was chosen It's
PRESIDENT pro tenn, position which he held
fer four successive terms. In 1856 he was APP
pointed Commissioner of Emigration, and he
acted as such until his election as Cover. or of
the State in 1858. During this period, the
Whig party having been gradually merged
into the Republican party, Mr.. Morgan be-
came Republican, and at the meeting that
organized the party, held in Pitts1urg in 1856,
he was appointed Vice nPresident, and as such
he opened the Philadelphia Convention whicn
nominated Fremont. During the ensuing
campaign he was Chairman of the National
COMMITTEE, apd so had to bear the brunt of the
battle. 1t was not surprising that he was the
one marked man who could carry the State of
New York for the Republican party in the
third year of its existence of that party as a
national organization. His administration of
the State Government was one of the most snc-
cessful recorded in its history. No Governor
OF that State ever watched legislation with
more careful scrutiny than he. The average
OF his vetoes was from fifty to sixty year. Ia
1860 he was reelected, and his services in the
subsequent dark days of 186l-62 were such as
to gain for him the praise of all who knew the
value OF his arduous executive labors. In two
years he raised, equipped and sent into the
uciu 11u,UUU meD, ana Wn6n MS administration
closed the State stood credited with All excess
over her quotas. To facilitate bis labors in
this gigantic undertaking, President Lincoln
had commissioned Gov. Morgan Major General
OF Volunteers, erected New York into mill
tary department, and given him command of
1t He held this rank until the close of his
term OF office as Governor, and declined all
compensation either for himself or staff The
thanks OF the President aud Secretary of War
were frequently rendered to him for the
pfompi ness aud efficiency with which he re-
sponded to the wants of the Government. An
important part of Gov Morgan's service to the
Government was the putting of the harbor of
New York in state of defence In 1862 he
declined another denomination for Governor
and was elected to the United States Senate.
where he devoted himself to hard committee
work and left the talking to those who had
more inclination for it. When Mr.. Fessenden
retired from the Treasury in 1861 President
Lincoln nominated Mr.. Morgan for the posi-
ton, but at his own request the nomination |
was Withdrawn before the Senate had an op.
to take action on it. Since the expi- |
lived mostly in private, but always with an un- |
abated intel est in the Republican party, upon |
the existence of which he has believed the |
welfare of the country to depend. In 1872 he |
was Chairman of the National Republican |
COMMITTEE, and conducted the successful cam
paign that resulted IN the second election of |
Gen. Grant. In 1865 he was the Republican |
for Senator, and in 1876 ran for Gov |
ernor against Lucil Robinson.
Gov. Morgan was munlticent in his beneyo-
lence. Among his gifts was $275, 900 to the |
Union Theological Seminary of New York and |
$l00, 900 TO Wslliams College