The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-12-12
CASTOR|A
For Infants and Children.
The Kind You Have Always Bought
signature sssss sss Of IkAZzzSw
AN ABOLITION LEADER.

Life and Public Services of William Pitt
FeSsenden" Is Written by His Son
Few men have deserved better of
lnelT country than William Pitt FEES
sender, the statesman and finapcier
who was mainly instrumental in hring
ing the United States out of the finan-
cal chaos precipitated by the civil war.
rev have received a smaller gnerdon
OF poSthumous fame.
though acogent speaker, he trusted
more to logic than to rhetoric He
Vlholcated his place in the Senate rath-
ei DIS d deoater than as an orator. saws
MS contemporary, Charles Sumner
In other words, he was more incisiva
than snowy.
Though one of the ablest supporters
OF the political measures of Lincoln
he never forced himself into the pnblic
eye. There was nothing sensational
| or spectacular about him and he did not
become, like some of his contempora.
rles, "a popular figure with the peo.
pie at large.
After his death there was no one suf-
| hclently interested to write his life or
IN position to do so. His sons were
then young men, whose energies were
su1nclentiy taxed in the support of
their families.
Some dozen years ago, however, one
OF these sons, Brigader General Fran
els FeSSenden, undertook the task
from which others had shrunk, and de-
voted much time to the collating of
material. On his death, in 1906, Gen
eral FeSsenden bequeathed the result
of his labors to his son, James D,
FeSsenden, who prepared the manu-
script for publication in its present
form. 1t is issued in two volumes by
| Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin Il Co. of
| Boston.
Born in 1906 at Boscawen, n. H..
William Pitt Fessenden graduated in
1928 at BoWdoln college, and in 1927 be-
gan the practice of law in Portland, Me.
After term in the State Legislature
and the United States Congress he was
| elected United States Senator in 1854
| by combination of Wings and anti
| slavery Democrats. His first speech in
the Senate placed him at a bound
among the great abolitioniSt leaders.
In 1859 he was reelected to the Senate
as Republican. Appointed chairman
| OF the finance committee, he ably
seconded President Lincoln and Secre
| tary Chase in their attempts to solve
the financial problems of the nour. 1t
was natural, therefore, that when Mr..
Chase resigned in 1864 President Lin
coin and his advisers should turn to
| Fessenden as the man to take the
vacant portfolio of the treasury.
Its difficult today to understand the
| perpleXltleS and embarraSSmentS which
surrounded the office. The war was
still going on. The country was suffer
ing from an enormous debt and an in
| tiated currency. Gold was at 225 The
paper dollar was worth only 80 cents.
The government had just found it
necessary to withdraw from the mar
ket loan which it had been unable to
float. The armies of Grant and Sher-
man were stopped before Richmond
and Atlanta for want of money. 1t
was the darkest hour of the war.
| The first act of the new Secretary was
| the issuance of the famous seven thirty
bonds, bonds bearing interest at 7.30
| per cent and issued in denominations
as low as ten, twenty and fifty dollars,
most of which were devoted to paving
! Off the soldiers. More than twenty
million dollars was thus loaned to the
government by the men who were fight
ing to uphold it. Not only was the dis
posal thus made relief to the Treas
ury, but it proved a benefit to the re-
cipients in affording them a safe and
valuable investment and an easy mode
of transmitting funds to their fami-
lies.
The Secretary of the Treasury also
suspended the further issue of green
backs, thus inducing the State banks
to accept the national system.
Gold having fallen to 100 and the i'm
! mediate necessities of the occasion hav-
ing been met, Fessenden resigned from
the Treasury to resume his seat in the
Senate. Here the vote he cast against
the impeachment of President johnson
brought upon him from rabid partisans,
who denounced him as traitor, the
severest criticism of his career. But
his evident honesty and singleness Of
purpose restored him to public favor
and regained him his position as party
leader. He died September 8, 1862