Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1884 — An Estimate of Seward. [ARTICLE]

An Estimate of Seward.

Seward was a favorite of fortune. He was fortunate in his gifts, his surroundings, his successes, his career, his temperament, his friendships. He was peculiarly blessed in the last respect by having as a life-long friend Thurlow Weed, one of the most astute and powerful politicians we have ever produced, who relieved Seward of many of the burdens of politics, and left him free to work out the principles they both had at heart. It was a rare chance which gave Seward such a friend, and he made the most of it, as he did all of his opportunities, after the fashion of successful people. Very few men have made themselves count for more than Seward in proportion to their ability. This arose from his wonderful capacity for dealing with his fellow men, from his robust common sense, and from his cautious firmness. The qualities, however, which made him great were his wisdom and his courage, and on these his place in history will rest Apart from the military leaders, the great figure of the civil war is that of Abraham Lincoln. He will always stand preeminent, not only by his wisdom and moral greatness, but by his hold upon *the popular affection. He appealed to the hearts of the people both in his life and in his death. They loved him. becausein him they saw a true and |>rofoundly sympathetic representative of all that was best in themselves, and because he personified as no other man did the infinite pathos of the war. But among the statesmen who followed and sustained Seward will occupy the foremost place. The memory of the adroit politician may perish, but that of th e broad-minded statesman will endure. The subtleties of his arguments will fade, but his presentation of great principles will ever grow brighter. The champion of anti-Masonry will be forgotten, but the man who first ap'pealed to the “high-law," and who first described the “irrepressible conflict,” will always be honored and remembered. We may road the epitah which Seward chose for himself in the simple inscription on the , tomb at Auburn. “He was faithful,” and with this prai e he was content. But history will also record and give high place to the calm wi dom. the loyal courage and the undaunted spirit with which he defended the cause of freedom in a slave-holding Senate, and stood by the side of Lincoln through all the trials and perils of four years of civil war —Henry Cabot Lodge in The Atlantic.

Good sense is-worth far more in a woman’than personal beauty, and there never<waa a man of any force yet, whose*misfortune it was to fmarry a stupidor shallow woman, who did not esteem it the crowning blunder and calamity of his life.— Pitts burg h Chron-icle-Telegraph. t The children should not hear you scold or find fault with their .mother. If you don’t treat her with respect neither wiH they. ’