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 UPON 
 
 UNIITED STATES SENATOR 
 
 
 

\ 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS 
 
 WILLIAM J. SEWELL, 
 
 UNITED STATES S?;NATOR OK NEW JERSEY 
 
 HON. EDWARD C. STOKES, 
 
 DEUVBKED BEFORE THE 
 
 LEGISLATURE OF NEW JERSEY, 
 
 MARCH 24, 1902. 
 
 TRENTON, N. J. 
 The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers. 
 
 1902. 
 

 57 CT'aJlflfW 
 
 White HcU9», 
 
When Bossuet rose to deliver the funeral oration 
 
 J over the Prince of Conde, he said that words could 
 
 N add nothing to the fame or virtues of the dead ; his 
 
 C 
 
 51 actions alone were the highest praise; all other 
 
 n" eulogies failed. 
 
 ^ The same thought is suggested by the character 
 
 and work of him to whose memory to-day we pay 
 our tribute of appreciation and love. His life was 
 so sincere, so modest, and yet so eventful and full 
 of results, that a faithful narrative of deeds per- 
 formed will best speak his virtues. 
 
 New Jersey boasts of a long line of distinguished 
 sons. Fame and glory have come to her from her 
 soldiers and statesmen ; from her jurists and scholars; 
 from her discoverers and inventors ; but of all the 
 illustrious men whom she claims as her own, there is 
 none who loved his country and State with a greater 
 
love, or more zealously sought to promote tbeir wel- 
 fare and honor, than did General William J. Sewell. 
 I speak of him as "General," for by that title he 
 was loved by his comrades of war ; by that title 
 known throughout the State and nation, and by that 
 saluted by his associates and friends. 
 
 He was not of American parentage. He was alien 
 born — ours by adoption. Yet he was none the less 
 an American by instinct and training, and had a 
 most sincere and genuine affection for this Land of 
 the Free. His patriotism knew no bounds, and the 
 Stars and Stripes were as dear to his heart as the 
 life he so freely offered in their defense. On one 
 occasion, in response to a greeting by his friends, in 
 a burst of feeling, of which he was always capable, 
 but which he seldom displayed, he declared that if 
 he could have his choice, he would choose to die 
 fighting for the country which had done so much 
 for him. 
 
 The typical American is cosmopolitan by blood 
 and kin. In him are to be found some of the traits 
 
5 
 
 of all nations. He is partly English, partly Irish, 
 partly German, boasts of his Dutch ancestry, and 
 shows some of the suavity of the French. He is the 
 evolved product of hundreds and thousands of 
 liberty-loving pioneers who have come hither from 
 abroad, found homes upon our hospitable shores, 
 and, adapting themselves to the genius of our insti- 
 tutions, have become part of the warp and woof of 
 our national life. 
 
 These adopted citizens, appreciating the blessings, 
 privileges and opportunities of America, have been 
 ever eager in protecting her ideals and ready to do 
 battle whenever her honor and safety were threat- 
 ened. The War of the Revolution had its DeKalb, 
 its Von Steuben, its Pulaski and its Lafayette. 
 Upon the muster rolls of the Union forces are found 
 the names of thousands who, cradled in foreign 
 lands, fought along the Potomac, the Tennessee and 
 the Mississippi for the preservation of the Republic. 
 Heintzelmanu, Siegel, Weber, Hexamer of this 
 State, Woerner and his German Battery, Blenker's 
 
6 
 
 Brigade of New York, and two hundred thousand 
 others, attest the devotion of the sons of the Father- 
 kind to the nation's cause. Thomas Francis Meagher 
 and his galhint Irish Brigade, fighting Phil Kearny, 
 New Jersey's idol of the war ; Sheridan and Kil- 
 patrick, with one hundred and fifty thousand more 
 of like nationality, attest the devotion of the Irish 
 heart. Nor were these the only contributing 
 nations ; others, too, gave of their sons to our de- 
 fense and safe deliverance. To such as these — 
 Americans not by birth, but by choice — who have 
 proved their title and their patriotism by service and 
 sacrifice, belongs the man whose life we now review 
 and whose death we lament. 
 
 He came of a vigorous and self-reliant ancestry. 
 Its original coat-of-arms was first conferred upon 
 one of the line for gallantry at the Battle of Cressy, 
 in defense of the Black Prince, and to this there was 
 added later the crest, a mailed hand brandishing a 
 cap of liberty — a republican emblem that could only 
 have been won by resistance to kings. From men 
 
7 
 
 like these, independent freeholders of the border 
 counties of old England, who knew no over-lords, 
 who had fought for principles of law and justice at 
 Naseby and Marston Moor, and who breathed the 
 very air of sovereignty in the freedom of their 
 homes, sprang one of the ancestral lines of the sub- 
 ject of this occasion. Thomas Sewell was the second 
 son of the family, living in the parish of Seberg- 
 ham, Cumberland. Commissioned in the English 
 civil service, he was sent in the performance of 
 public duties to Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. 
 While there he married into a family of Scotch- 
 Irish lineage — the daughter of Captain William 
 Butler Joyce, of the Fifth Irish Dragoons, a crip- 
 pled veteran of the Peninsular War. 
 
 General Sewell was one of three children of this 
 union, and was thus of Irish-English descent — 
 English upon his father's side and Scotch-Irish 
 upon his mother's ; but it was Ireland, the land of 
 his birth and boyhood days, rather than England, 
 that he always held in the greatest affection. In 
 
8 
 
 him were blended the best traits of these races — the 
 sturdiness, determiuation and dignity of the English, 
 the shrewdness and keen perception of the Celtic ; 
 in his blood were the same strains that gave Wel- 
 lington to England, Bruce to Scotland and O'Con- 
 nell to Ireland. 
 
 Born in 1835, left fatherless and motherless at 
 an early age, this orphan lad followed an older 
 brother, Kobert, to the City of New York. There, 
 when about eighteen years of age, he entered the 
 service of the sea, and sailed before the mast on the 
 " Flyaway," an American merchantman about to 
 make a voyage of the world. Steam had not then 
 revolutionized the commerce of the seas, and ships 
 of the clipper type occupied the front rank in ocean 
 travel. One incident of this voyage makes it worthy 
 of mention. The child is always father to the man, 
 and to the boy on the good ship " Flyaway " there 
 came an opportunity to show those sterling qualities 
 which distinguished him in after life and made him 
 successful in every field in which his energies were 
 
9 
 
 employed. The ship touched at a port in Australia 
 at a time when the discovery of gold was offering 
 hopes of speedy and fabulous wealth. The crew 
 yielded to the temptation, mutinied and attempted 
 to seize the vessel, but young Sewell, with the same 
 hatred of rebellion he showed later in life on a 
 broader field, took his stand with the little band of 
 officers who were defending the property entrusted 
 to their care. All night long the opposing forces 
 held their ground, without advantage on either side. 
 With the dawn of the morning, at great personal 
 risk, Sewell succeeded in signaling a man-of-war 
 lying a few miles distant. A relief party was at 
 once sent, and the officers of the " Flyaway " were 
 soon relieved and restored to their rightful authority. 
 For this courageous conduct, he received promotion 
 and the youngster who sailed, as a boy, returned 
 with the rank of first mate. 
 
 His arrival in this country was coincident with 
 the acute stages of the slavery agitation. It was the 
 time of the culmination of questions, discussions and 
 
10 
 
 controversies which involved the life of the nation, 
 and which were to be settled only by the tribunal 
 of war. The passage of the Fugitive Slave law, the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas and 
 Nebraska struggle, the Lincoln and Douglass debates, 
 and John Brown's raid, followed each other in rapid 
 succession. Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison and 
 Wendell Phillips were the storm centers of agitation. 
 The crisis was at hand ; the time had come when 
 the nation could no longer exist half slave and half 
 free ; it must make the choice. The signal fires of 
 war flashed at Fort Sumter. A flame of patriotism 
 stirred the hearts of the North. The nation must 
 be saved. Volunteers alone could save it, and they 
 went bravely and promptly to the front in response 
 to Lincoln's call. 
 
 Of these volunteers, among the first to enlist was 
 Captain Sewell. He oflPered himself as a private, but 
 secured a Captain's commission in the Fifth New 
 Jersey, and served throughout that four years' 
 terrible conflict, save for a brief period when disabled 
 
11 
 
 by sickness and wounds. His record in the war is 
 a part of our State's history, of which every Jersey- 
 man is proud. For gallant and meritorious conduct 
 he was steadily advanced in rank, and near the close 
 of the war was commissioned by brevet, Brigadier- 
 General and Major-General of Volunteers. A medal, 
 presented to him by the officers and men of the Fifth 
 New Jersey, " for valor," inscribed with the names 
 of the engagements in which he participated, is a 
 mute but eloquent testimonial of the regard in which 
 he was held by those who served with him on the 
 field of danger. His character as a soldier, however, 
 is so well described in the order, issued at the time 
 of his death, by the then Governor of this State, that 
 I can do no better than to quote its words : " He 
 was a type whom all love to honor and follow. 
 Courageous, strict in discipline, devoted to the in- 
 terest of his men, ever mindful of their comfort and 
 well-being, he had the love and loyal devotion of 
 those who served under him. He was bold, and 
 
12 
 
 inspired others with a confidence and courage akin 
 to liis own. He led where any dared to follow." 
 
 His charge at Chancellorsville was one of the most 
 brilliant feats of the war and won for him a medal 
 of honor. The war correspondent who was upon 
 the field at the time, described it as " one of those 
 splendid achievements seldom occurring in this war, 
 but which, when occurring, cover the soldier's 
 career with imperishable glory." It was the morn- 
 ing of May 3d, 1863— the last of the three days' 
 battle. The Second Brigade of New Jersey had 
 had but two hours' sleep during the night. They 
 had formed in fighting line before daybreak, and 
 had been under continuous fire for over four hours. 
 Many of their comrades were dead. More lay 
 wounded and dying about them. General Mott had 
 been injured and carried from the field. General 
 Berry had been killed, and the command fell upon 
 Colonel Sewell. 
 
 To the south and in front, and to the west and on 
 the right flank, were the Confederate troops. They 
 
13 
 
 were swarming forward in overwhelming numbers, 
 and had seized a hill from which the Federals had 
 been driven, and which Sewell realized must be re- 
 covered. With the instinct of a born soldier he 
 rallied his disheartened forces, and seeing them 
 hesitate in the presence of the foe of such over- 
 whelming numbers that it seemed madness to charge, 
 he galloped to the front, in advance of the brigade, 
 until he stood in distinct view of all, and then ex- 
 claimed : "At least Jerseymen, follow me ! " His 
 example was irresistible. With a rush and cheer 
 the whole line went forward. Up and over the hill 
 they drove the retreating enemy, and on the crest 
 of the earth-works planted the regimental colors. 
 The new Commander and New Jersey's sons had 
 added another to the illustrious deeds of valor that 
 crowd the history of Hooker's old division. 
 
 Colonel Sewell's soldierly conduct and his eminent 
 capacity for command were complimented that day 
 upon the field. 
 
 It was one of the glories of the civil conflict that 
 
14 
 
 it never cultivated a purely martial spirit. After 
 its four years of carnage and strife, of military life, 
 of bivouac and battle, of fevered excitement, when 
 peace was declared, when the muster hour sounded, 
 its millions of armed men melted quietly away into 
 the ranks of private life as if war had never been. 
 General Sewell was one of the men who stepped 
 down from a high position of rank as a soldier, to 
 start at the bottom and begin life anew as a civilian. 
 His whole career was typically American. It 
 had its early struggles and difficulties and its later 
 victories and triumphs. He was self-made ; he 
 owed nothing to fortune ; he started with no capital 
 except natural ability, an honest character and a 
 determination to succeed. He won successive sta- 
 tions of honor by the power of his own integrity 
 and industry, his own high purposes and indomitable 
 will. 
 
 " He made by force his merit known, 
 And lived to clutch the golden keys. 
 To mold a mighty State's decrees." 
 
15 
 
 But lie was not only self-made — he was self-edu- 
 cated. In the lives of most great men one can trace 
 the influence of some patron or teacher, or some in- 
 stitution that has guided and directed their thoughts 
 in days of youth. Alexander had Aristotle as his 
 instructor; Grant had the advantage of a training 
 at West Point; Garfield sat at the feet of Mark 
 Hopkins. General Sewell taught himself. In the 
 school of experience alone, he learned the lessons of 
 life. Upon the various occupations in which he 
 engaged in life he entered without previous training, 
 and schooled himself to a high degree of excellence. 
 
 His labors in the field of transportation began at 
 the close of the war and continued to the end of his 
 life. It is a story of accomplishment and advance- 
 ment — the story of one who began in a subordinate 
 position and climbed his way to the top. Station 
 Master, Superintendent, Vice President, President ! 
 Round by round he rose, by careful attention to 
 duty, by steadfastness of purpose, by industry, by 
 perception of opportunity and by courage of per- 
 
16 
 
 formance. " No words," says a high official of that 
 great railroad system with which he was connected, 
 " can overstate the confidence reposed in him by his 
 associate?, or their appreciation ot" his exceptional 
 abilities." He had the habit of doijiy things ; his 
 miud was constructive and creative rather than 
 critical ; his insight was quick and true ; he saw 
 improvements and new avenues of trade and traffic, 
 just as Columbus saw the new world before he crossed 
 the Atlantic. These were as real to him as revela- 
 tions to Mahomet. He thought them out carefully, 
 planned his work as he would a campaign, and when 
 once he had decided upon a course of action, nothing 
 swerved him from the determined pathway. 
 
 It has been well said that the world and its affiiirs 
 are administered by men of action rather than by 
 philosophers and dreamers. The marvelous achieve- 
 ments of this day and generation are the result of 
 efforts of the great captains of industry — of men 
 whose practical minds can see a completed work 
 even before it is started — a trans-continental rail- 
 
17 
 
 road before the first spike is driven ; an Erie canal 
 before a spade is handled ; a sub-marine cable join- 
 ing two continents before the Great Eastern is built; 
 a Brooklyn bridge before the first cable is swung. 
 It is in these fields that the greatest progress has 
 been made, the greatest benefits conferred upon man- 
 kind. As McKinley pointed out in that memorable 
 speech at Buffalo, trade and transportation have 
 revolutionized civilization, improved the condition 
 of society and made the whole world one. New 
 methods of traffic and communication have enabled 
 us to utilize the fields, the forests, the mines, furnish 
 profitable employment to millions, bring comfort to 
 the home and competence to age. Such enterprises 
 as these always engaged the attention of General 
 Sewell. He held with Schiller that — 
 
 " The toil of science swells the wealth of art." 
 
 In his mind the railroads were the necessary veins 
 and arteries of all scientific, industrial and business 
 life. They have done more than any one agency to 
 
18 
 
 people the land, extend civilization and open the 
 wilderness, and to their development he devoted his 
 whole life with all his great energy and ability. 
 
 " Genius," said Carlyle, " is the capacity for hard 
 work," and those who imagine to the contrary find 
 no encouragement in General Sewell's life. His 
 disposition of business was orderly and rapid ; he 
 kept every appointment ; his executive ability, skill 
 in classification and quickness of perception, enabled 
 him to dispatch a vast amount of details with ease ; 
 but he seldom enjoyed, or rather, I should say, 
 Buffered, an idle moment. He was always at work. 
 Even when traveling, he was dictating correspond- 
 ence or attending to some of his many duties, and 
 few men had more. In addition to his railroad and 
 senatorial work, more than enough for one man 
 when performed as conscientiously as he performed 
 it, he looked after the National Soldiers' Home, an 
 institution always dear to his heart; was a trustee 
 in a great life insurance company, an active director 
 in an international steamship line, several banking 
 
19 
 
 institutions and other kindred enterprises, and he de- 
 voted no little time and labor to the National Guard. 
 His intense and earnest nature permitted him to 
 slight no position of trust he assumed. His unre- 
 mitting industry undoubtedly hastened his end. 
 His physicians warned him that the strain was too 
 great ; but in vain. He could not stop. He worked 
 with the same sense of duty that drove the early 
 martyrs to the stake. In a burst of confidence he 
 once said to me : "I want to die in harness," and 
 this remark indicated the intense energy of the man. 
 To the younger generation he was best known in 
 a public capacity. Three times a member of our 
 State Senate ; three times President of tliat body ; 
 three times elected United States Senator ; six times 
 in succession Chairman of the State Delegation to 
 National Conventions, is a record surpassed by few. 
 For a quarter of a century he was the acknowledged 
 leader of his own party, and toward the last — I 
 speak advisedly— he was trustfully consulted by his 
 opponents as well. There were times when his 
 
20 
 
 leadership was challenged, but never successfully. 
 The value of his services and his unfailing courage 
 made him invincible. Like the drummer boy at 
 Marengo, he did not know how to retreat ; he only 
 knew how to advance. 
 
 A bold and manly frankness characterized his 
 expressions of opinion, and in all his undertakings 
 it may be truly said, "he never stooped to conquer." 
 He never paltered in a double sense. How he hated 
 shams ! How he scorned the hypocrite ! How 
 powerless was friend or foe to whip him into any 
 line of action contrary to his ideas of right ! His 
 State and country were never in doubt as to his 
 opinion upon all public questions ; his position was 
 as clear as tlie sun in a cloudless sky. He was a 
 man of strong convictions ; he saw clearly, he be- 
 lieved firmly, he fought consistently, as the brave 
 fight. His sense of honesty would not permit him 
 even to mislead. He would speak the truth even 
 when silence would have answered. His promise 
 was performance ; once given, never recalled ; 
 
21 
 
 his emphatic " no," seldom reconsidered. Few men 
 ever had a more devoted or loyal following, and few 
 men had greater faculty of turning opponents into 
 friends. Nor did he win friendship or popularity 
 by a false affability or by assumed graciousness. It 
 was his rugged honesty and sterling qualities that 
 made men trust and love him. On the other hand, 
 he was uncompromisingly loyal to his own friends, 
 and would sacrifice himself rather than forsake 
 them. He said with the poet, 
 
 "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, 
 Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." 
 
 Such a man possessed all the natural qualities of 
 leadership, and his was a leadership of men by 
 loyalty rather than power. Never was his strength 
 in this respect more clearly shown than in the hour 
 when sickness had compelled him to yield the active 
 control of affairs. He had returned from Europe 
 with little hope of recovery, and when the conven- 
 tion of his party met in September, for the first time 
 
22 
 
 in tliirty years he was unable to be present. It was 
 a solemn and impressive gathering, meeting as it did 
 under the very shadow of the death of the President 
 of the United States, and although the members of 
 that body felt that General Sewell would never again 
 carry the banner of leadership, his voice was just as 
 potent as though he had been on the ground in all 
 his old-time vigor. That convention took sincere 
 pride in unanimously passing a resolution declaring 
 that, " as delegates in convention assembled, we send 
 our most cordial and heartfelt greetings to our absent 
 leader, Senator William J. Sewell. We recognize 
 that his devoted and patriotic services to his State 
 and country have been given at the sacrifice of his 
 health and strength, and while we miss his presence 
 and valuable counsel on this occasion, we hope for 
 his speedy recovery to his former health and vigor, 
 and look forward with confidence to the time he 
 will again lead us in person, as he does now in spirit 
 and influence." Such a tribute comes only to the 
 men whom the people love. 
 
23 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell at length upon his 
 legislative career. It began in these halls and 
 ended in the Senate of the United States. Pains- 
 taking, faithful, unfailing in attention to duty, 
 combining intimate acquaintance with public re- 
 quirements, with willingness to render assistance 
 wherever needed, he made himself well nigh indis- 
 pensable to his constituents. " If you want a thing 
 done, go to General Sewell," was the current advice 
 and practice, until the whole State, regardless of 
 party, leaned on him in confidence and trust. 
 
 He was not of an oratorical temperament, but was 
 inclined to act rather than talk. He was 
 
 "A true knight, 
 Speaking in deeds, but deedless in his tongue." 
 
 Yet when he did speak, it was always with clear- 
 ness, force and effect. His presentation of the Mon- 
 roe Doctrine was a splendid exposition of that 
 international question, and won for him the highest 
 encomiums of the best scholars of the country. His 
 judgment on public questions was patriotic and 
 
24 
 
 statesmanlike. Personal considerations were always 
 subordinate to the welfore of the State, and never 
 for a sinjrle instance caused him to swerve from the 
 strict line of duty. His influence among his col- 
 leagues was unquestioned. No one stood higher in 
 their estimation, and in achievement of results, 
 he was second to no Senator at Washington. The 
 high regard in which he was held at the capital of 
 the nation was signally illustrated during the 
 Spanish War. The President sent to the Senate for 
 appointment as Major-Generals of Volunteers the 
 names of Sewell and Wilson, Wheeler and Lee. It 
 was a splendid and dramatic company of military 
 heroes. Two of them had worn the gray, and two 
 had worn the blue. They had crossed swords on 
 the field of civil conflict. Now the President of a 
 reunited people commissioned them, with the con- 
 currence of the Senate, to fight side by side under 
 the Stars and Stripes. The nominations were at 
 once confirmed. General Sewell was anxious to don 
 again the uniform and buckle on the sword. His 
 
25 
 
 old longing for the soldier's life returned, for he was 
 essentially a military man, and to one of his close 
 personal friends he said : " I want to have a hand 
 in this war, as I had in the last." But the interests 
 of the country demanded that he should not abandon 
 his place in the Senate, and urgent appeals came to 
 him, not only from his own State, but from all parts 
 of the country, to remain at the legislative post of 
 duty. Then came a remarkable tribute. His party 
 colleagues in the Senate, without a single exception, 
 signed and sent to him a letter urging him to de- 
 cline the appointment. " We do this," so reads the 
 letter, "knowing that the appointment is well merited 
 by your distinguished military career and your 
 genius for organization and command, but we feel in 
 this exigency, neither the party nor the country can 
 forego in the Senate the influence of your experi- 
 ence, ability, patriotism and integrity in legislative 
 service. 
 
 " The military fame which, in your younger days, 
 you won in battle for the preservation of the Union, 
 
26 
 
 cannot well be augmented, and with one accord, we, 
 your party associates and friends, venture to express 
 the hope that your sense of public duty will lead 
 you to continue without interruption in the service 
 of the Senate, which we all feel is of direct utility to 
 the country." 
 
 It is interesting to note that in this flattering re- 
 quest there joined another distinguished Jerseyman 
 and life-long friend, Garret A. Hobart. To such 
 an appeal there could be no refusal, and though his 
 commission had been filled out and handed to him, 
 the General put aside his cherished ambition and 
 declined the appointment. The President of the 
 United States did him the honor never to appoint a 
 successor. 
 
 I should fail to do justice to the real man if I 
 neglected to speak of his personal traits. His austere 
 and dignified manner was sometimes mistaken for 
 coldness, but behind this air of quiet dignity he had 
 a genial, loving nature and a warm heart that beat 
 for all mankind. He disdained show and display. 
 
27 
 
 His modesty made him retiring, and while he was 
 as courageous as a lion on the field of action, in 
 business or in legislative hall, socially he was timid 
 and shrinking, and avoided rather than sought atten- 
 tion. No one, however, was ever fonder of his friends 
 and associates, or more thoroughly appreciated and 
 enjoyed their society. He was kindness itself, and 
 delighted in acts of benevolence. He was a generous 
 giver, and never refused to listen to the appeal of the 
 needy and deserving. Indeed, in times of distress 
 he took occasion to look after the condition of the 
 poor and see if they were in need of relief. But 
 
 while 
 
 " He had a tear for pity, and a hand 
 
 Open as day for melting charity," 
 
 he shrank from publicity in his giving, and said to 
 those upon whom he had conferred a favor : " See 
 thou tell no man." 
 
 Religious institutions always found in him a sub- 
 stantial friend. He was most liberal in his assist- 
 ance to churches and church work, and always 
 opposed any movement that would tend to abridge 
 
28 
 
 their privileges or their usefulness. He believed 
 they were the chief factors in conserving the inter- 
 ests of good order and the well-being of society. So 
 profound was his respect for all religious influences 
 that he would not even tolerate the criticisms of 
 their opponents, and on one occasion he refused to 
 meet, either publicly or privately, a noted infidel 
 who had come to the State, on the ground that the 
 constitution of New Jersey was founded on the 
 Bible, and he could not afford to countenance any- 
 one who came to attack that foundation. 
 
 It was in his home life, however, that his real 
 nature was most clearly revealed, and the attributes 
 which made his character beautiful and attractive 
 were there most clearly seen. His family was the 
 object of his teuderest care. Like McKinley, his 
 home life was a model, and displayed a chivalry of 
 love and devotion that even the engrossing cares of 
 a public career were never allowed to disturb. 
 When presented with the medal of honor for bravery 
 at Chancellorsville, he looked at it in silence for a 
 
29 
 
 time, aud tlieu said, in a voice broken with emotion : 
 " This will please ray wife and my children." His 
 reverence for his mother, who died in his early 
 youth, was touching and tender. Her memory was 
 always strong in his affections and so long as he lived, 
 he assisted in keeping in repair the little church in 
 which she had worshiped, fitting it with memorial 
 windows and providing free pews — a token of his 
 filial devotion. 
 
 It is seldom, indeed, that one makes a success 
 worthy of public attention in even a single avoca- 
 tion ; still rarer is it to achieve greatness in every 
 field of effort into which one enters. Soldier, patriot, 
 business man, statesman ! In all of these, history 
 writes General Sewell high on the roll of honor. 
 Pass his career in hasty review. He begins at the 
 bottom. He rises to the top. He ships upon a 
 merchantman as a boy, he returns as first mate. He 
 offers himself as private in the War of the Eebellion 
 and becomes a Major-General ; he enters the rail- 
 road service as agent and becomes its President. 
 
30 
 
 He begins bis political career in tbe State Legisla- 
 ture and becomes United States Senator, the highest 
 office to which he was eligible. This is his record, 
 written in his own deeds. 
 
 With a strong and vigorous constitution, supple- 
 mented by a fine physique, which to look upon 
 "gave the world assurance of a man," he promised 
 to outlive the allotted three-score-and-ten. During 
 the last three years, however, the strain to which he 
 was subject from private and public duties began 
 to tell, and he gave evidence of failing health, which 
 his friends endeavored to believe was nothing more 
 than the weariness of overwork. In the spring of 
 ISOl, however, his condition became so serious and 
 the change in his appearance so noticeable, that even 
 the most hopeful realized that the fight with death 
 was near at hand. Bravely, heroicly, uncomplain- 
 ingly, he faced the Great Conqueror. A trip to 
 Europe, always before a means of relief, served only 
 to disclose his waning strength, and his return in a 
 condition too weak to see his intimate friends was a 
 
31 
 
 preraoDition of the worst. Cape May, his home by 
 the sea, was tried in vain. Then he turned to the 
 Southland, in the pathetic hope that its dry mountain 
 air would check the ravages of disease. Here again 
 he was doomed to disappointment. Surrounded by 
 his family, attended by the ministrations of his 
 heroic and devoted wife, he had every care that love 
 and science could devise. Gradually his splendid 
 vitality succumbed. To those who saw him in these 
 last days, he reminded one of the dying of a great 
 oak, which, without strength to resist the blasts and 
 storms, faces them helpless, but undismayed. From 
 the window of his sick chamber he looked out upon 
 an ever-changing scene of valley, mountain and 
 sky ; touched now by the grey of dawn, now bathed 
 in the splendor of noonday, now crimson in the 
 evening glow, and as he saw the sun set beyond 
 those lofty hills, to shine apparently in another 
 world, he knew that eventide was near for him. 
 Behind him in retrospect was a life of struggle and 
 success, of labor well done, of duty well performed, 
 
32 
 
 of acts of kindness and charity, and a character 
 pure, stainless, untarnished. The rapid progress of 
 his disease hastened his return to the State, and he 
 came back to his home — where for thirty-five years 
 he had lived in the esteem and love of his fellow- 
 citizens — to await the end. December 27th, 1901, 
 he passed peacefully and painlessly away. 
 " Like a shadow thrown 
 Swiftly and sweetly from a passing cloud, 
 Death fell upon him." 
 He died in the height of his influence, in the full- 
 ness of his power, in the harvest of success. I do 
 not forget his great achievements, the high honors 
 he won, the applause he gained ; but if I should 
 write his epitaph, remembering his earnest and 
 sincere character, I should say of him, in the lines of 
 the poet — 
 " Not stirring words, nor gallant deeds alone ; 
 
 Plain, patient work fulfilled that length of life ; 
 
 Duty, not glory — service, not a throne. 
 
 Inspired his effort," 
 
y 
 
iii:i i