The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-21

tWGnty-One- Inc IIlllltdTg VIM hAN
attained the maturity OF twenty-four, was
more impatient over politics than he had
been over salt What in the devil are you
doing he wrote-'stump speakingT l really
thought you were too decent for that This
seemed to be the tone of the correspondence
between John, the statesman. and William.
the soldier to the end 1t was notable
family. The writer remembers some one
complmenting the general upon the honors
that had fallen upon the family name.
Yes he said, John has done well. ! do
not complain of fortune. But the biggest
and best of the Shermans was my brother
Jim IL he had lived the rest of us would
have been in the shade Then came the
silence Of a sorrowful memory, the lines
deepening on the warriors grand old face.
Brother Jim!' Why may not some one sup
pement the Sherman history with some
thing of the character and career of a man
who could have thrown John Sherman and
his illustrious brother into the shade?
Sherman came into Congress in time of
care. Pierce was President. The Kansas
Nebraska issue was burning. and Banks be-
came speaker, the first of the series of vic
tories which eliminated at Appomattox
There were cutter men TO greet the young
Ohio statesman who at thirty stepped on
the stage of national public life. Lewis
Cass was in the Senate, and could have told
him OF Indian wars and how he interrupted
the Burr conspiracy; Pitt Fessenden. who
had been there in 1s41; Benjamin, of Louis
lana, afterward secretary of state TO jeff
Davis; John j. Crittenden, also an Indian
warrior; Douglas from Illinois; Hale of
New Hampshire. pioneer of abolition; Han
nibai Hamin, shedding the scales of democ-
racy; Sam Houston, former President of
Texas; William II. Seward John Slidell and
Charles Sumner. Among his colleagues
were Zoliconer. who was to go down to
death early in the Confederate war; John
A. Quitman, furious fighter in Mexico.
major general, who wanted TO fight for
Cuba; Russell Sage, now in Wall street; A
III. Stephens, to be vice president of the
Confederacy; Morrill,. who remains with us
in his eighty-ninth year; Asa Parker.
famous Pennsylvania philanthropist; Pres
ton s. Brooks. who was to assail Sumner,
and Arson Burlingame who was to have
fought a duel with him on that account, but
happily found career in China; Schuyler
Colfax and Winter Davis.
IN JOHN BROWNS TINE.
Sherman was a modest. quiet, oonserva-
tive member. Began on the committee of
foreign relations. with Burlingame as COL
league. Then he passed on to the naval
affairs-serving in sll six years-when he
was selected as the Republican candidate
for speaker. This honor came with the
thirty-seventh Congress. the organization of
which was the last political battle of the
mary that had been fought over the slavery
issues since the Missouri Compromise. Yes
the last because the war was coming. John
Brown had just been hanged-execution if
one remembers. the Sunday preceding the
assembling of the House The country was
in a tumult over the hanging and the cause
leading to it. We have all been singing
about John Browns soul in glory, and his
going to be soldier in the army of the
Lord, and so on, but there was TO glory in
the air when the Congress of 1859 assembled.
The Free Soil people were upor the de-
fensive. and much IN explanation. The
Harpers Ferry raid had awakened universal
argor. No Republican newspaper defended
Ii. Brown must have been insane was the
utmost in the way of defense; and small
sum Of money was raised IN New York for
the Brown family. through the herculean
exertions of Horace Greeley, by the sale of
signed photographs.
"A foolish crank had written a book His
name was Helper and his book The Impend-
ing Crisis. Nothing more absurd has ever
ben penned. and 1t would have sunk into
trunk maker and pastry cook oblivion had
not certain Congressman recommended it's
circulation. So when the House assembled,
instead Of electing John to be Speaker and
intrusting him with the gavel of Robert c.
Winthrop and Henry Clay he was questioned
about the Helper book A member from
Missouri named Clarkson, leading politician,
happily forgotten and but dimly remem-
bered in his time as one remembers the dog
that howls all night in the barn, started the
ball. Before this illustrious House elected
the speaker let few questions be asked
We were in the era of insurrection. The dear
old mother Of commonwealths had been
ravished in the night, and, although the chief
criminal had been hanged, were there not
other criminals, and in that very House?
Yea, even hundred of them, to whom
hanging would be a luxury Had they not
recommended this Helper book, this gospel
of crime? Did not John Sherman's name
appear on the list? And must we condone
John Browns crimes by honoring an ac
complice?
There never was a more shameless exhi-
bition than this row over the Helper book.
Whatever the thoughts at the time M one
can read that debate without shame II
ran on for days and weeks. Congress would
not organize. The Presidents message was
not considered. The pubic business was ar
rested. The halls of Congress streamed with
vituperation, invective, malignity The Dem
ocratic members monopoized the business;
the Republicans, rule silent They
would not defend themselves against accusa-
tions OF rapine. Sherman would have with
drawn from the contest, but self-respect
forbade his friends assent. This debate fol.
lowed the war fields and made ready for the
war harvest so soon to rpen In this debate
the Democrats threw away their position
John Brown was forgotten. The feon be-
came hero. Calumny incensed the South
and united the North-and out of that
Helper debate-that prolonged, dreary. ig-
homonious, frenzied debate-came war
sherman had approved the book and could
not be elected. Nor. for that matter, was
the election of any vascular Republican pos
sloie. The virtue of ReDublicanism was with
sherman Charles Francis Adams supported
fim' am with Adams were John A Bing-
man, to whom a pension was voted the
other day-a scholarly man: Thomas Cor
wil prince OF orators, returned 10 pub
lie lie In the silence of old age; Colfax. re-
served for sad fate; Morrill,, who is the
Nestor OF the Senate the venerable Grow
sturdy, hickory headed. intrepid. Yankee
tempered, with Pennsylvania training: Ros-
coe Conkling, soon to escape from his adj
Lliration of Sherman; Thaddeus Stevens tba