Year: 1868

or more t1atteF{pg 70 the character of


the nation, and especially Of the State


he has hOn0red by q fiawless public


life, than the greatest advocate of


equal rights who ever sat in the United


States. It is needless to name him /;


for the Senate has never given Us more


than one man who has never once


equiYOeated, or faltered, or bent the


knee to the American Baal of political


eXpedieney; and everybody knows


that this solitary senatorial Cato OF our


days is the illustriOus Republican ora
tor of Massachusetts,.


Charles Sumner is the most success
ful politician in America. His sena-
torial career has been one unbroken
and continuous triumph; and there is
every probability that, if his life shall


be spared, it viii be quoted in time to
come as the longest as well as the most
unsullied career.


How has he achieved this wonderful
success2 Not byhattery Of the people,
either personal or political. To those
Whu know him well he is an uuas-
sRming and genial friend; open-min-
ded, free in speaking of every motive
that has governed MIN, always ready
to give freely and fully of the vast
treasures of knowledge he has gath
cred up, without reservations in des-
cribing his associates in frank but
kindly terms: a man in whom there
is no deceit, no love of deep strategy,
no shadow Of a shade of belief that 1t
is even unsafe or unwise TO dare to en-
act the highest conceptions of justice
and truth. His political strategy is
like the military strategy of Grant.
my idea Of strategy" said the leader
Of our armies, ''is to get as near the
enemy as You can, and then-fght
him Sumner has fought his long
campaign against political injustice on
this theory, and he will fight it out on
this line if it should take him all his
lifetime.


But while to his friends-tO men
who not only sympathize with his pO-
litical ideas, but whose love of letters
enables them to call forth and enjoy
his literary stOTes-he is thus a famil
lar companion, there is nothing of the
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in his manners
toward them or others; nor does he
know how to make a friend for life,
as Henry Clay did, by a magnetic re-
oeDtiOn of a. common VisRtOr: there e
q certain enldness and pre-Oeuupatiou
in his style, entirely involuntary,
which sometimes rather chills than
cheers his casual acQuaintances. This
does not arise from any aristOcratic
spirit it is mainly owing, we think,
to his scholastic habits, and to several
Of Nsw England training
which he has inherited, and which sell
dom fails to put this distinctive mark
on the Yankee to the manner born.


Hundreds of men have reached
high round on the ladder of official life
simply by their popular personal man.
ners. Charles Sumner owes nothing
to this means. Thousands have gone
up higher than they ought by diving
lower than they should in the turbid
stream of flattery Of the people and
their prejudices. Charles Sumner
never cOUTted his own party even, and
never equivOcated in the presence Of
either friend or foe.


He owes his greatness 70 fidelity to
his own soul. Among a huge mob of
and Democratic cOuTtiers, the
people saw II this orator. MAN.
They soon found that if they applaud
ed him, he received their goodwill in
good part; but that, if they hesitated
to sanction his bold course, he still
marched onward to his goal, without
hesitation and without rest. He has
never engineered" his own elections;
and yet he has never failed of an cleo
ton whenever his name has been put
in nomination. He has never even
lifted his little finger to procure the
highest honor that his State can be-
stow; and yet there is no office in her
gift which he cannot command.


Two incidents Of his career Illus
trate his infleXible adherence TO the
doctrine that the Office should seek
the man, and not the man the office.
When his Office was pending before
the legislature for the first time, it
needed only q single vote to decide his
fate. he was imp0rtuned to give pri-
vate assurances that ne would act in
the main with the majority Of the par
ty. The only answer they received
was that be stood by every word Of
every speech he had made on the gues-
tiOn of slavery. Again, he was asked
simply to go up to the State House one
and shake hands pleasantly
with one ''shakey' Legislator, whom
this trifing courtesy would have won
to his side. Not a step would he
move. Again, after the assault of
Brooks, his election was pending, and
it was desired TO make il unanimous.
A Democrat called on him one morn
ing. and t0ld him he had often said.
in private life. that, after this outrage,
he was opposed to Mr.. Sum
ner IN politics, ifeTeT he had chance
to vote for him, he would assuredly do
so, as a rebuke to the barbarism Of sla-
very. NOW, said the Democrat, IT
am member Of the legislature; I can
vote Tor you but my party are very
hostile 10 you. AlT. Sumner, what
would you recommend me to do ?"
The Senator did not coax this waver-
ing legislator 70 abide by his decision !;
he only answered: "SiF, your case
reminds me of Line in Wordsworth /:


F" The soul may reach a hight it can
not keep p"


Never was there a public servant in
Quoted into Office who 80 little cultiva-
ted the arts Of popularity. Appealing
always and everywhere to the con-
science Of the people, his career is a
Of the moral element in our
politics, and should serve as an assur-
ance that the best way to win endu-
ring public favor is faithfully to serve
the higher nature Of ones constituents.


Next TO bis integrity of character
and loyalty to principle, Mr. sumner
owes most Of his success to his IndOEn-
liable and tireless industry. he is an
worker. Late and early he
is at work, with all the enthusiasm of
his youth. Aided by q memory which
never fails to keep whatever he once
hears or reads, be always brings to
topic he deals with, a variety
and aptness Of historical illustration
which makes him an almost indispen-
sable authority in every debate. He
has probably made more spseches Of
the character termed by the French
sans TepSque- speeches, like his Ia
nous Kansas OratiOn, unanswerabIs
BY solid s9d ueb-oEen -snlzs esR5.ett-