‘ [545] that it was either a very old copy, or possibly the original sketch from which Tintoretto painted the larger picture. I determined to have it at any price, and before I left the shop it belonged to me.’
And of him Mr. Beecher himself said, in one of his glowing discourses—
The greatest gift of God to a nation is upright men for magistrates, statesmen, and rulers. That republic is poor, although every wind may waft to it the richest stores, that is not governed by noble men. Signs of Government decay show themselves sooner than anywhere else in the men who govern. When rulers seek the furtherance of their own ends, when laws and the whole framework of Government are only so many instruments of wrong, the nation cannot be far from decadence.Sumner's love of justice and truth made him essentially a Democrat. Personally, he was not one, but he became one in the times in which he lived. By the force of circumstances he became the leader of his party. He came forward at the time when Webster, Choate, and Holt were the heroes—in Massachusetts, when it was almost worth a man's life to say a word against any of them. Now, how is it? By nature Sumner was endowed with a manly person, of an admirable cast of mind; yet he was a made — up man. He fell lately from the blow he received in his earlier career, and neither Brown nor Lincoln was a greater martyr for liberty than Charles Sumner. How beautiful to die so! The club that struck him was better than knighting him. It brought him to honor and immortality. No son possesses his name. No child shall carry it down to posterity. He is cut off from that. But the State of Massachusetts shall carve his name so deep that no hand can rub it out. No son or daughter wept at his bier, but down a million dusky cheeks the tears stream; and they feel that a father and protector has gone from among them, and I would rather have the honor of the smitten than the honor of the high. He joined himself to the best things of his time, and now he is with God. Nothing can speak better for his principles than the fact that corrupt men dared not approach him. He made this remark to me once: ‘People think Washington such a corrupt place, but I don't believe a word of it; I have lived here a long time, and I have never seen any of it!’ And he never did. His was not a belligerent statesmanship. He was an advocate for peace, although he demanded justice. Everywhere his views were against violence, and his preference for peace based upon justice, and for the defence of the poor and the needy. He was a statesman, indeed, and the more to be honored because his tastes did not lead him to the common people. His
