Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-11-15

l Of Pennsylvania, when he saved the free
school law in ar Assembly which had
been instructed by great majority oi
Its constituents to repeal II. Stevens en-
|. tered Congress for the first time in 1870
and in 1850 made his first set speech in
that body in opposition TO the fugitive
slave law, but he was some years ahead OF
his time. WhesJ he returned to Congress
for his great service the Civil war was
Just coming on and Stevens was nearly e
years OF age. lie was broken in health
but determined to have part in the great
crisis which he saw approx ching. From
this point on the address dealt with Stcv-
ems work as leader of the House Of Ron
tesentatives during the war and the peri
/ Cd OF reconstruction. Especial enpha s7
was laid on the foresight he exhibited in
/, dealing with the profound questions
growing out Of the war and the read
! tustment of the relations between the
federal government and the cx-confedo-
rate States. A glimpse was also given of
TIC great commonor as he stood at the
! bar of the Senate in behalf of the House
of Representatives to impeach Andrew
jackson of high crimes and mlsdcmcanors.
The closing paragraphs OF tho address
were as follows:
J II Is ItiSe ana swallow view max
| looks upon this man merely as a fierce
! and bitter PARTISAN or 4 s u keen. doter-
| mined lawyer. or even as a sound. far
seeing statesman. He was something
more thar these; he was a witness TO the
truth. He was caught UP by n breath of
/ thrt great spirit which is forever mov-
/ ing over the face of tho human deep.
/ lifting row or, and now another to i've
I.,1 a,.
Cling and shipwrecked race He felt him
self upbnrne on the wings of eternal TRUTH
| The words he spoke were not his own.
but the words of Justice that can"ot fail.
Hcavet, and earth might pass away but
! its words would not pass away. Apostle
or martyr was never moro persuaded of
/ the necessity or tho eanctity OF his wit
ness. THAT is what electrified his hearers
That is what gave him on his great day
at Harrisburg the appearance of a de-
scendel god That is what forced Sen
ator Dawes to say OF him. there wcro
moments when he did not look like any
other man I over saw a,l scarcely like
n man at ALL" God gave him to see
with unobstructed vision the absolute
equality in which all men stand before
their Maker and in which they shall one
he battled. And when he was near his
end he pledged his friends to bury him.
not with the prosperous and powerful
not in any burial place which would ex-
clude the race for which he labored but
IN a. certain small and obscure graveya rd
whore the dead of every class and color
were received. His very rrave stands as
a witness to the principles he fought for
IN his life.
To that humble. far-off resting place
our thoughts go out from these surround
ings with peculiar tenderness and pride
promise, Of genius and deform'ty. We
think OF the mother whose unquestioning
"a crihce made all his triumphs possible
We see him far from home struggling fo~
a foothold among stransers. forging his
way over every opposition to the first
place NJ the bar We see him defending
tho forlorn and helpless fugitive In the
court OF justice, freely devoting to the
defense OF liberty the learning and skill
and eloGuence which all the money of
oppression could not buy; and when the
law claims its victim we see him paying
the ransom out OF his own slender store
We see him standing up alone against
an unjust movement of the people ana
by the single might Of moral earnestness
defeating II and puttinr II To shame We
see him refusing to put his name to n
state constitution that presures to draw
n line between the sons OF mon according
to the color of their skin. We see him
at last in Congress. confronting the fe,-,,
and despotic South with a spirit n. in
tense and uncomproruising as its own.
We see him returning to those halls
again after years Of silence. the inGrrnitv
Of age upon his body. but tho fire. q, an
exalted purpose in his soul. determined m
die IN harness now that the battle Is
really on We think OF the marvellous
foresight that took in every element :,
the problem and had Il solved before his
fellow statesmen understood its terms
We hear him day by day and month af
ter month exnounding his nrincinles nra-
pairing the WAY for the measures that he
knew must come. waiting with patIence
till the country was ready 70 adoot hts
view, and then when the hour struo,,
pouring the hot lava OF freedom into -bo
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