Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-07-24
General John O. Fremont.

As we announced last week, John
Charles Fremont, the first great leader of
the great Republican party, is dead. What
recollectlons are called up by his decease.
In these days OF comparative quiet, when
the nations life Is not threatened by great
moral questions such as moved the whole
country at the time of which we write,
it Is almost impossible to understand and
appreciate the tremendous significance of
that period in our Nations history which
called the Republican party into existence
and msna,a General Fremont is noble lead
er. Among all the good aI,.@lles which we
have seen relative TO the death of Genera
Fremont we have seen none with which
we were more pleased than with an edito-
rial in the Portland Adrertiser and from
that article we quote as follows;
The Wing party had gone to pieces on
the slavery issue. and on its ruins had
arisen the new Republican party, whose
slogan, Fremont, free soil, free men.
smote ominously on the ears of the slave
holding ohgarchy and was the first de-
termined preliminary note in the irrepres-
sible conflict close at hand
Fremont was the central figure at a most
critical juncturc in the nations history
| He was not one of the conspicuous AMI
well known leaders in the anti-slavery
! movement but young man OF half
| foreign antecedents aud Southern birth,
1 whose romantic and adventurous career
/ had fired the popular Imagination and
! made the subject popular hero He was
| known TO be of pronounced anti slavery
views, but he had not figured promi-
neutly in politics. He was hes, known as
| the path finder, the intrepid explorer of
| the regions north of the Missouri and be-
I yond the Rocky Mountains. who had open
I ed the mountain passes aud nearly doubled
! the area Of the country These were his
| services but their full measure was not
| appreciated in 1856. when he received the
| nomination over Mr.. Seward and Judge
/ Mclean, rs the most available candidate.
That was thirty-four years ago. The
! campaign which followed exceeded even
4 the Tippccanoe campaign for excitement
4 and intense feeling. Ii could not be other
Y wise. for the issue was for the first time
/ >quarcly drawn between slavery and free
4 dom. Fremont WAS defeated, hut the fact
I that he received IL electoral votes to IA
I for James Buchanan, showed the vitality
! of the party then scarce 4 year old. The
! first Republican candidate for the Prrsi-
Z dcnCy lived to see the second candidate
I elected. and every Republican candidate
\ since but one. He saw the black clouds
| Of civil war roll down and envelop the
\ country He took ms part in that war,
and saw the triumph of freedoms cause.
I the abolition of slavery. and the erection
OF the former slave into a citizen. He
/ lived to see the Great West which hr eN-
4 plored become rich and pppuou~ States ;
4 to see railroads pierce thu mountain passes
and great cities rise where he had found
a wilderness, lie hsd long nBtllved both
Buchanan and Fillmore. his competitors
in 1886, a. well a. Seward and Mcl..an.
his rivals for the nomination that year.
Nearly all the great figures If the war
period Lincoln. and his cabinet. Grant
aud his generals, and the leading states
men Of the zine be- had seen come upon
the stage, play their parts and make thcir
! exit. Ia he succeeded hy new generation.
And when be had bccom. an Oh man.
I lonely almost bnt for hi dcv pted help
mate. the daughter of Thomas Benton.
aud broken in fortune, he experienced thc
gratitude of his country without regard
10 parry, 10 the act 81 last March placing
him on the retired li-t Of the army y tn
the rauk and pay Of major general
In the death Of John Charles Fremont.
the country lo>rs unique and interesting
figure, His was long Hfo-h he would
have been - next January i WAS u
career crowded with romautI. incident and
adventure His record 10 the civil war :
the only pat unworthy ~ hmm ami that
was due u ht- ardent Ga!iit Temperament;
and Impotence under restraint ami NIT -