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2

and Stevens, the most generous of men, a lover of children, particularly of children in distress, refused to contribute. 'There is boldness and consistency in this act of Old Thad,' said the 'Lancaster Intelligencer,' publishing the story. The 'Harrisburg Telegraph' applauded Stevens's position. That one holding such extreme views should have demanded the immediate enfranchisement of the freedmen, an absolute equality of civil rights, and the confiscation of the land of the Southern aristocrats and its division among the negroes in forty-acre tracts, is not surprising. Many ascribed his deep-seated hatred for the Southern whites to the influence of Lydia Smith.3 His fondness for her is shown in the fact that there is in Lancaster to-day a portrait of this comely mulatto from the brush of Eicholtz, a prominent painter who also did a portrait of Stevens.

VIII

The mind of Stevens was not formed for constructive work. He achieved no distinction in the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania because of the lack of constructive capacity. Godkin, in a dispassionate survey of his career, could not find that he had so 'associated himself with any public measure or series of measures as to make it a memorial of him personally.' That distinguished journalist apparently failed to realize that Stevens was the father of reconstruction measures, albeit time was soon to show that these were more destructive than constructive.

Perhaps the most distinguished and useful work of his career was his brilliant fight in the Legislature for the preservation and extension of the public school system. Because of the cost of maintenance, there was a popular clamor against the schools. That this would have prevailed but for the remarkable speech of Stevens, all contemporary authorities agree. It was a superb piece of lofty eloquence, and his peroration, expressing the hope that 'the blessings of education shall be conferred on every son of Pennsylvania, shall be carried home to the poorest child of the poorest inhabitant of the meanest hut of your mountains,' literally saved the schools. He himself thought this his greatest service, 2 Stewart, Reminiscences, 205.

1 June 6, 1867. 'Hensel, 11.

2 June 8, 1867.

"The Nation, August 20, 1868.

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and he once said that he would feel abundantly rewarded ‘if a single child, educated by the Commonwealth, shall drop a tear of gratitude on my grave.' He spoke effectively in favor of the establishment of an art school in Philadelphia, and for the endowment of the academies and colleges of the State.2 This, however, was the work of the advocate. Success in that capacity achieved, he stepped aside and took no part in the creative work. He could defend, he could attack; he could not construct.

And he could not compromise - that was at once his strength and weakness. It made him a leader while he lived, and a failure in the perspective of the years. He held no council, heeded no advice, hearkened to no warning, and with an iron will he pushed forward as his instinct bade, defying, if need be, the opinion of his time, and turning it by sheer force to his purpose.

A striking figure on the canvas of history -stern, arrogant, intense, with a threatening light in his eye, and something between a sneer and a Voltairian smile upon his thin, hard lips. Such was the greatest party and congressional leader of his time.

We shall follow him now into the fight and note his character in his actions. The summer of 1865 has passed, his plans are made, and he takes the train for Washington to cross swords with Andrew Johnson.

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CHAPTER V

"THE WAR GOES ON'

I

E have seen that during the summer of 1865 the Radical group under Stevens and Sumner had been mobilizing their forces for a mass movement against all the policies of Johnson. A few days before the opening of Congress, the members began to pour into the capital, and before the gavel fell the enemies of the President had struck the first blow. Among the earliest arrivals was Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House, whose advent was not unheralded. Of statecraft he had partaken daintily, but a fluency of expression, added to a pleasing personality and a perpetual smile, had made him a popular figure on the platform. In debate the nimbleness of his tongue stood him in good stead. In speech he was the master of the obvious.

This was the man who entered the capital to the roll of drums, sent on ahead to sound the keynote of opposition to Johnson in anticipation of the latter's Message. The crowd that assembled before his lodgings on the night of his arrival was not a spontaneous tribute to the great; the audience had been provided in advance. And when the 'Smiler' appeared, to acknowledge the homage, it was not an extemporaneous, but a carefully premeditated speech that was delivered. It was a pro-negro speech, a declaration of the invalidity of presidential reconstruction, a call for the political proscription of the natural leaders of the South; and by its tone and manner it served notice that Congress, and not the President, would determine the future of the conquered territory. That night the speech was flashed over the country, to be read the next morning at the breakfast tables.

1

This was the first gun fired by the Radical group, and there was no misapprehension as to its meaning. It meant war. The 'National Intelligencer' thought the speech in bad taste; 1 a member of the Cabinet recognized it instantly as 'the offspring of an in1 Hollister, 372.

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