Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-07-27
ssNAIoa s. s. Phelps.

] ny tue transcript furnishing Co. OF Brattle-
boro.
SENATOR S. S. PHELPS.
lie WAS not ,quemt speaker in the
! sena.t, deserving himself for great occas-
ions. He was a member of the commit.
toe Of thirteen that reported the Clay
compromise measure between the North
aud South, the omnibus bill OF 1850. and
the action greatly weakened him at home.
He had been fully committed to the prn-
ciple Of the Wimot prOviso; he had, in
a powerful speech the year before, re.
minded the Southerners that the whole
agitation over the slavery question OF
which they complained and bt cause of
which they were threatening the dissolu-
ton OF the union, was "Only the logical
sequence of the Mexican war,
which carried in its train elements that
might END in despoling the republic;'
but when the real danger of dissolution
confronted him his love of the union led
him, like Webster, to temporize, where
with larger and cooler provision he had
recognized that tcmporizing was useless.
There was no stronger argument made
against slavery in the whole course of
the debates than that of Phelps in ans
wer to Calhoun and Btriien in 1918 on
the bill for the exclusion of slavery from
Oregon, with the lessons and warning he
drew from the action of the new French
republic in abolishing It. Henry Wilson
in his Rise and Fall of the Slave Power
describes 1t as a speech of remarkable
eloquence and power Wilson says, in
a general estimate of Phelps, that he
was "a man of rare ability and equalled
by few as a lawyer ana forensic debater,
but his unfortunate habits impaired pub
lie confidence" His position in the
senate gradually grew to be conserva-
tive one, one out of sympathy with the
current of thought and events. soon to
be guided by men like Seward and Chase
and he thus became less of leader than
his admirers thought he ought to be.
lie served laboriously on the committees
of claims and Indian affairs. and it is
said that the recommendations of his
reports, fortified as they were by def
mite statement of the case, were seldom
rejected. He was, both as senator, Judge
and advocate. a cOgent. powerful reason
er, with a clear, simple, vigorous way
of stating his argument, and IA habit of
viewing questions that was at once com
prehensive and discriminating. large in
its grasp and quick in its mastery of the
subject. and tins, with his dignied bear
ing and his air of resolute honesty, made
him a weiglty man in what was per-
haps the greatest era of the greatest de-
Lucrative body of the world peer
among such senators as Clay, Webster,
Calhoun, Cass. Benton. Macy, Clayton,
Wright, Forsyth, Corwin and Douglass.
sLADE HOLDING THE SHAREHOLDERS
AT BAY.
His [Gov. VIM. Slade's7 best title to
historical rank will rest on his speech,
Dec. 20, 1887, on a petition for the aboli-
ton of the slave trade In the District of
Columbia, and though the speech was
suppressed by vote of the house, the
pluck with which he presented the case
and the skill and GOODNESS with which he
prodded the slavOcracy to desperation,
were well worthy of admiration. In
arguing for the removal of the disgrace
of this traffic from the national capital,
he naturally branChed off into discus
sion of the wicked and brutaliZing char
acter of the traffic everywhere. Quoted
Franklin, Jefferson and Madison in repro
baton of it., and when points of order
were fired at him to the effect that
"savery in the United States" could
not be discussed, he was ready with
quotations from these great southern
statesmen themselves to show that they
were ready to discuss and consider. but
never to throttle debate on the subject.
lie finally got the soulherners into a cor
ner where they objected to quotations
from the Declaration of independence
Itself ana driving them rcmorselessly in
their dilemma, eXtOrted a call from the
leaders for the southern delegations to
leave the hall in a body. When they
attempted the gag rule to suppress him
he said: you may indeed silence the
voice of truth in tins hall, but it will be
p only to give it louder and deeper tones
elsewhere words that were prophetic.
His speech on the tariff bill OF 1912 was
? also regarded as a strong one for the
, protectionist side OF the argument,
I especially for its wool schedule, and it
was widely published and circulated by
p the Wings.
GOV. HORACE EATON.
t He was a man of clear and well-balanc-
!! ed mind, MadisOn-like IN the simple, con-
vlncing fairness of his arguments, and
e the comprehensiveness of his understand
7 ing of the subjects he handled, just and
kindly towards others, of great delicacy
of feeling, and always exceedingly care
full not to wound, always gentleman
IL ,f.,a