Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-06-16

party, he was the equal Of any other
Senator who held to that faith. Chase,
Morton and Seward not excepted. He
was one Of Names big Four"-Evans.
Fessenden. Blaine and Reed. 1t was
in 1929 that the first of these appeared
ut Washington and took his seat in the
National House Of Representatives.
and seventy years lat the last Of the
four retired from public service. There
| was an hiatus of four years between
Evans final retirement from the Senate
| and Fessenden's advent upon that
theater, and thus wo may say that for
sixty-six years of the last century
Maine played great rart in the ma
tional councils Sometimes she had n
great man in either house, as in the
Twenty-seventh Congress, Evans was
| in the Senate and Fessenden in the
| House. Later Fessenden was Sena-
tor Of numerous Congresses, of which
Blaine was a member Of the House.
When Blaine went to the Senate, Reed
came into the House.
It is generally agreed that next to
Daniel Webster, George Evans was the
greatest intellect of 3ny public man
| New England has produced. He was
the one man who signa,iy overcame
John Quincy Adams in debate, and he
did that in defense Of Mr.. Webster.
He was the antagonist Of George
McDuffie i'm the great tariff discussions
| of 1S45-46, when the doctrine OF free
| trade prevailed, and forty-eight years
later, Thomas B. Reed oontended with
William l.. Wilson. when that idea was
/ in, in ho Tn6
| was to Webster what CoilingwOod was
| to Nelson, lieutenant. disciple, a
| faithful friend. 1t is worthy OF note
that though Maine was very nearly a
Democratic State, prior to 1856. when
| Thomas B. Reed was seventeen ana
Fessenden was fifty. yet. all her big
| Four" were Wings, Or of the wing
descent and made their reputation
| fighting the Democracy.
William Pitt Fessenden was to the
Senates of a later period what John G..
| Calhoun had been to the SenateS OF an
| earlier pcriod-the ideal Senator. Pure
as the ice, which, curded by the frost
from chastest snow, and hangs on
Dian's temple, his intellect was as
| spOtless as his character, and could no
more play tricks in political discussion
! than his honesty could flank his con-
| science in a purchase at the corner
| grocery. A victory in discussion
| gained by a citation Of false history, or
| by appeal to ignorance or prejudice,
would have been loaIhsome to that
| crystal mind and to that sensitive con-
science. He hated sham with more
| than the hatred of contempt, and he
hated fanaticism with more than the
hatred of disgust. His intellect was
like Calhoun's-not so subtle-but
clear, cold, powerful. Like John G..
| Carlisle, he was invincihic in state
ment, and all his speeches were both
simple and brief. 1t was a mercy of
| God that took this man from the public
stage, and from life itself, before Sem
ators began to speak fifteen hours
| "hand-runnin'." He went directly to
his subject. employing the fewest
words possible, grapple1 with 1t, and
then let it drop. Thus he became the
/ leader of Senates that contained Trum-
bull. Howard, Sumner. Conkling. Ed
munds, the Morrills. and Sherman.
William Pitt Fessenden was born
/
early youth he gave evidence of the
| fine mind with which nature had en-
dowed him, and a life of more than
three -scOre years gave evidence of the
unblemished honor that ornamented his
grand character Early in life he was
graduated from Bowdoin College. and
| Immediately following that event he
| entered upon the study of law, which
he pursued in Portland and in New
York City. At twenty-one he was ad-
| nitter to the bar. and was a successful
practitioner from the beginning. His
physical constitution was never robust,
end his physical health was always
frail. but he performed an immense
deal of labor. He seemed to have a
genius for it. Instinctively his fine
mind separated the dross from the gold
held on to that which was important,
and discarded that which was irrele-
want. To borrow a thought from Bal
zac. he did not throw himself upon the
dull routine Of the work of n lawyers
office like cannon ball, but glided
through 1t like a pestilence. And when
he was through, with an immense rec
ord, brief as were his examinations. he
was master of his case, and his adver-
sary's. too. When a Young man he ap-
peared before the Supreme Bench at
Washington to plead for the reversal Of
Il casa that Storey himself had decided
on circuit: Webster declared that it
was the ablest argument made before
that tribunal in twenty years, and he
got the reversal he pleaded for.
Repeatedly he was offered nOmina-
tiOns for Congress. where Evans was
gaining SO many laurels, but he de-
clined them. However, in 1881, he ac-
cepted a seat in the state legislature.
and young as he was, he was assigned
to the leadership. The northeastern
boundary was question in national
politics then, n bone over which Eng
land and the United States were growl-
ing and threatening war, and 1t had
particular interest for the people Of
Maine. III the Legislature young Fes-
senden greatly distinguished himself il
the discussion of this question, and he
discovered that latent genius that made
him one Of the greatest debate-s of our
history in the Senate Of the United
states in subsequent years While