The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-01-24
From the Charlotte Observer I

| -
| memorial exercises in the Senate to-day
were worthy tribute to the great North
Carolnian. No finer addresses, take them
all III all, have been delivered on any pre-
vious occasion in many years. They
| were for the most part honest eulogies
OF pre-emlnently honest man. All were
written and read except Senator Black
| burn =. Perhaps the best were by Sena-
tors Ransom, Chandler, Blackburn and
| Gray, though some of the others were
above the average. beginning at 2:1O,
| the exercises closed at five minutes to
SPIN.
After presenting the resolutions Sena-
| tor Ransom spoke for nearly three-quar-
| ters of an hour, very completely and elo-
| quently reviewing the life and public ser
| vices and eulogizing the civic and private
| virtues of his late colleague. The speech
was full, ornate and vivid-so Astounding
| in effective passages that it is difficult to
| select from it. There was an interesting
| description OF Vance's native place; a
brilliant tribute to Vance as the great
war Governor. Reference was made to
the fact that the writ of habeas corpus
| was never for moment suspended in
North Carolina during the war; also to
Vance county, named in his lifetime; to
to his great power as speaker and
writer. His wit and humOr were subOr-
dinated to the higher purposes OF speech
No man ever 80 filled the hearts of North
CarOlinians; but he was beloved beyond
the borders of North Carolina. Mr.
Ransom recalled the scene in the Senate
chamber on the 10th of April last when
the Senate "lighted it's black torches
around the lifeless form of that most
hOnored and most beloved son of North
Carolina, and when his mortal figure,
| covered with the bright flowers offspring,
and hallowed by the sacred devotions of
religion, passed, amid tears, like a shad-
ow from this portal forever. Today"
Mr.. Ransom continued, his associates
on this floor are here to place on the
everything annals of the Senate the
record of their admiration of his vir-
tues" After sketch of Mr.. Vance's
bOyhoOd and manhood, including his
service in the Confederate army and three
times in the gOvernorship of his State,
Mr.. Ransom spoke of his position in the
Senate, where his record was, he said,
part of the national history. He was,
Mr.. Ransom said, dutiful and devoted
Senator, aspiring and laboring for the
welfare and honor of the whole country.
liz was, uC jill tlIIleS, Oh Tue liHpOIlilnU
committees of the Senate and took a
prominent part in the discussion ofevery
important question. He was an unceas-
ing advocate of revenue reform and the
uncOmprOmising opponent of civil ser
vice reform. He was the ardent friend of
silver and of free coinage. He desired all
the world to know his opinion and posi-
ton and never hesitated to avOw them.
His heart was, every moment, with
North Carolina, and his devotion to the
State and her people was unbounded.
He was an uncommon orator. bespoke
with great power. His style was brief,
clear and strong; his statements accu-
rate and his arguments compact. His
illustrations were unsurpassed. His wit
and humOr were waiting and handy. He
always instructed, always interested,
always entertained, never wearied or
fatigued an audience. The Senate always
heard him with pleasure. The galleries
hung on his lips, with Bonded bodies and
Outstretched necks, to catch his every
word as it fell. His wit was as exhaust
less as it was exquisite. His humor was
overlooking and his phrases spanked
like buhbling drops of wine. He was
master OF irony and sarcasm, but there
was no malice in his words. His shafts
We're never poisoned. 1t was the
strength of the bow and the skill of the
archer which sent the steel to the heart
of his victims. He believed what he said.
He knew that it was true and he felt it's
force to himself. His heart was in his
| words. For thirty years he had stood
by the people of his State. He was to
| them brother, defender, a preserver,
a deliverer.
Mr.. Blackburn spoke OF Mr.. Vance as
| the great war Governor of the South,
ranking side by side with the great
Curtin, of Pennsylvania, who represented
| the loyalty of the Union at that dark
| hour. "This mans character" Mr..
| Blackburn continued, lis best illustra ted
| by an incident with which | became
acquainted within the last week. Gen.
| eral SchOfield told me, less than week
| ago, that when the war ended he was
| left in command of the district of North
Carolina. lie received a peremptory
order from the War Department to
arrest Governor Vance, to capture all of
| his papers and correspondence and send
| them to Washington. The General said
| he knew very we'll that Vance was not
seeking to flee the country or to avoid
| arrest, but that he sent an officer up to
| his mountain home with instructions to
| capture every paper that belonged to his
official or his personal correspondence.
General Schofield sent Governor Vance,
| with these papers and these records, to
the Secretary of War, Pennsylvania
great war officer, Stanton. The people
thought him (Stanton) not kind, even
savage; but in my Judgment he was, in
| point of efficiency and ability, the
greatest war minister that the world has
known since the days of the elder Carnot
in France. The papers We're sent here,
| the records and books, and every par
ticle of correspondence that Vance had
ever had with the President of the dead
| Coniederacy. Stanton examined it all,
| and when he did, and saw what this man
had done, how persistent his efforts had
! been to ameliOrate the condition of the
| Federal prisoners and to assuage the
horrors of war, this great Secretary said
to him: 'On your record you stand
acquitted. You are at liberty to go
where you will May not another Judge
whose writs run through all eternity
say that on the record Vance had made
he may go where he would Through
out the chamber this peroration pro
duced sensation.
Senator Morrill,, the Nestor of the Sen
ate, his voice tremulous with age, alluded
to his being a member of Congress with
Vance before the war, and to difference:
on the tariff question between the posi-
ton of Senator Vance and that OF Nan
gum, Badger and Stanley.
Senator Sherman also referred t.
Vance Congressional career before 1861
when Vance and himself were "Ameri
cans" Vance was then regarded as {
young man of marked abilities, II
touched on the general points OF hi
career, and warmly commended his man,
noble qualities. Mr.. Sherman indulget
in same philosophical reflections on lif
and how Vance filled the ideal of a fine
open, lovable nature.
The next speaker was Senator Bate, o
Tennessee, who said EaDce's intellec
raS Of q IN re Order of com nlete uesi III