Year: 1872

WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD.


The great citizen who died yesterday at
Auburn has probably not left another in all
our borders so widely known. We do not re-
fer especially to his fame, for that he shared
with many others. But William Henry Sew
ard, the man. in his habit as he lived, was
probably better known to his cOuntrymen and
to the world than any American statesman of
the past or present. He had entered political
life at an early age. He had passed his entire
life, almost without vacations, in conspicuous
public positions. Almost all the months dur
ing which, in o long lifetime, he had been
out of tho harness of office, he had employed
in foreign travel. And when abroad he always
availed himself of his exceptional advantages
to make the acquaintance of typical and prom
inent men. So that to-day, as tho news of his
death is telegraphed over the world, it is
no exaggeration to say that in every
court and cabinet on earth the tidings
will como with something of personal
shock to the few who govern the
many; in the republics of Spanish America
the loss of powerful friend and patron will
be mOuTned; the statesmen of Europe Will
recognize the demise of almost the only Amer
ican whom they have ever regarded as their
peer; and in the farthest East in the utter
most isles of the sea, prayers Will be offered in
strange tongues to alien gods for the repOse
of the aged chieftain whose white head and
broken frame cast such a wonder about his
wide jouTneyings in tho hamlets and the
palaces of India and NiphOn and Cathay.


Perhaps we are yet too near the scenes in
which he was an actor and always a combat
ant, to judge with strict impartlality the incl
dents of his long and wonderfully industrious
life. But it may safely be said that he is
one of the characters in our annals which
can only gain through time. The acts
which his opponents call faults are of the
nature which history will lose sight of IN
the lapse of time, while the great part which
he played in that grand drama which began
with the first awakening of the national con-
science on the subject of Slavery, and is only
closing nOw with the movement for reunion
and reconciliation, can only gain IN lmpor-
tance and in dignity as the passing years
bring it into palmer relief. His great and
versatile abilities will never be questioned.
His learning, his tact, his gift of throwing
into formulas the half-uttered, half-developed
thought of the people, his self-cOmmaud, 80





incurred the reproach of insensibility, and
those occasional bursts of sustained and inn
passioned elOquence which never failed to be
as full of thought as they were of feeling,
give him place apart among tho statesmen
of our time. Unlike many men of great
eloquence and popularity, his industry was as
remarkable as his ability. No day-laborer, no
drudge of the quill, ever did more persistent
and wearisOme work than that which this
favOrite of the people and of fortune imposed
upon himself. Amid all the exactng cares of
a life of Office he was an omnivorous reader,
and his published works fill many volumes.


If we were asked to give in one word the
principle which most constantly influenced his
public action, we should say it was his abso-
Lutte faith in republican institutions 1t was
this which made him an Optimist. He never
despaired of the Republic, simply because he
could not. Amid all the wild play of passion
and suspicion which filled those dark days in
Washington, when the war seemed languish-
ing, and the national life seemed Pickering in
the socket, he preserved a serenity of tone and
Of temper which seemed heartless and ex-
asperating to many impatient patriots on the
outside, but which gave no little strength and
comfort to those who were brought into daily
contact with him in the Government. 1t will
be hard for the future to decide whether in
that long contest it was the steady confidence
of Seward, or the fiery heart of Stanton, which
more effectually held up the hands of Lin
coin. 1t is certain that, while he re-
tanned his own absolute independence
throughout, the President trusted both Of
these Ministers with an entire reliance
which is equally honorable to all the three.
After the death of Lincoln, it was Stewards
faith in human nature, his confidence that
other men were on the whole as good as he
was, which led him to believe in and to sup
port the policy of Andrew johnson for the
immediate restoration of the South. For this
he sacrificed his position in the Republican
party, and at thezelection Of Gen. Grant, with
out a compliment or q civility, left that De-
partment of State which he had administered
during eight years, with wisdom, an adroit-
ness, an unfailing courage and an industry
hitherto unprecedented in our annals, and
which We may long look in vain to sec
repeated.


His leisure has since been employed in work
worthy of his character and his fame. Unde-
tered by advancing age and rapidly increas-
ing nfirmities he projected and accomplished
that voyage around the globe which brought
him face to face with every phase of civiliza-
ton and development of civic life on earth.
On his return he prepared an enoEmous task
for the evening of his days-no less than die
tating full account of his travels iand OBJ
servations, and history of his life and times.
The first work he lived to complete; it If now
in the hands of the printers The second he
| had made great progress in, but leaves it to be