Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1887 — A BUSY LIFE ENDED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A BUSY LIFE ENDED.

Death at Chicago of Hon. Elihn B. Washburne, Ex-Minister to France. The Friend of Lincoln and Grant— Many Times Congressman—A Jiotable Figure. Hon, E. B. Washburne, ex-Minister to France, and a conspicuous figure in recent American history, is dead. He passed away at the residence of his son in Chicago. on Saturday, Oct. 22. He had been ill for several weeks, but was thought to be on the road to rapid recovery, and his death was a surprise to the community. He got up in the morning, as usual, and dressed himself, and while he was being

shaved by the barber who attended at the house he complained of feeling a pain in his heart, which he described as a cutting pain. The larber and Mr. Washburne’s body servant lifted him to the bed and bathed his feet, and after sitting there awhile he said he felt all right again, and then laid down. Some hours afterward he got up to get a drink of water. Mrs. Washburne, hearing him about, went to his room, and he was almost immediately attacked by the acute pain in his heart. His body servant led him to the bed, and on lying down he turned over on his side, and in a few minutes expired. The only member of the family present was Mrs. Hempstead Washburne, who was holding his hand when he died. Mr. Hempstead Washburne was at his office down town, and was at once summoned home by telephone. Elihn B. Washburne was born at Livermore, Oxford County, Me., in September, 1816. He entered the office of the Christian Intelligencer at Gardner, Me., in June, 1833. He afterward studied law, was admitted to the bar, went West and located at Galena, 111., in 1810. Being a Whig he did good electioneering work for his party during the Harrison campaign and was a delegate to the W i ig national convention which nominated Henry Clay in 1844. Mr. Washburn was a member of the National Whig Convention which nominated General Scott in 1852, and the same year was elected to Congress through the support of the Free-soilers. He was re-elected in 1854 by a majority of 5,000. He continued to represent the district term after term, his majority in 1860 rising to 13,511. Mr. Washburne acted as Chairman of the Committee on Commerce in the Congress of 1862, and later became Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. He occupied a conspicuous position in the councils of the nation during the troublous years of the rebellion. After repeated reelections he at length became the “father of the house,” and as such swore in as Speaker Schuyler Colfax and James G. Blame. He was the opponent of every kind of jobbery, receiving for his vigilance the sobriquet of “the watchdog of the treasury.” Mr. Washburne was a stanch personal and political friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln. He was also one of Gen. Grant’s earliest and best patrons. Being Congressman of Grant’s district, he used his influence at every step of Grant’s career to secure the latter’s promotion. It was chiefly through his efforts that Grant was made a Lieutenant- General and afterward General of the armies of the United States. Mr. Washburne was an opponent of the practice of making grants of the public lands to railroad companies, and frequently voted against extravagant appropriations for public buildings. He was chairman of the committee of the whole which discussed the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, and brought in the first postal-telegraph bill. The establishment of national cemeteries was also largely due to his efforts. Mr. Washburne was appointed Secretary of State by President Grant in 1839, and resigned his seat in Congress, which he had held for twenty consecutive years. After a brief tenure of office his health compelled him to resign. President Grant offered him the French mission, which he accepted. The Franco-Prussian war shortly afterward broke out, and the delicate questions of diplomacy and international law that arose taxed his abilities to the utmost. He succeeded in securing from the Foreign Department of France protection and safe conduct out of that empire for all Germans who felt it dangerous to remain. When the Commune raised its banner in Paris, Mr. Washburne was the only foreign Minister who stuck to his !>ost, and the foreigners of every nation ooked to him alone tor protection. He remained in Paris during all the carnage that followed in the wake of the Commune, and made a strong but ineffectual effort to save the life of Archbishop Darboy. He received the thanks and recognition of nearly every nation for his services to their subjects during the dark days of the siege of Paris. Shortly after the war the order of the Bed Eagle was conferred on him by the Emperor of Germany, who also presented him with his portrait in oil and a letter expressing the warmest affection and regard. After President Hayes’ election Mr. Washburne expressed a desire to resign, and soon returned to his native country, making his home in Chicago. He received 44 votes for President in the Republican National Convention in 1880. The same year he withdrew altogether from political life and devoted his leisure to literary pursuits. “Reinaert deVos,” or “Reynard the Fox,” a satirical poem, written about 1250 by William Yan Utenhoven, a priest of Aerdenburg, was for centuries the most popular work ever written. It was translated into many languages.