Ohio History Journal

244        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

prudence and wisdom. He was from the start appreciative of, and am-

bitious for, the advantageous attainments of the student and he entered

college, but on its threshold his course was stayed by his country's call

to arms. How promptly he answered that call; how faithfully and loyally

he discharged that duty history has duly recorded.  The war over he

returned to the pursuits of peace and made law his chosen profession.

In this he at once displayed great ability, aptness and promise, which

his fellow citizens recognized by electing him prosecuting attorney of

his county. Then follows those famous fourteen years in Congress-when

to his many rare natural qualifications he added those of varied experi-

ence and wide observation in the affairs of the state and the methods of

men. It broadened and matured him. He revealed and developed those

powers that characterized his public life-the simple and clear logic of

his thought and argument, his polished but practical style of oratory. He

concentrated his efforts-he chose a line of labor and adhered thereto-

he did not scatter-the great temptation of talent and versatility. He

selected as the special subject of his studies the manufacturinig indus-

tries of the country-their history, condition, and their advancement and

enlargement by the policy of tariff protection. He became the master of

his theme and the champion of its cause, and though he came in contact,

on the floor of the house, with the strongest minds and most skilled

speakers of his day-he steadily but surely advanced to the very front

rank of his congressional compeers. Then came those four memorable

years as Governor of our great state, when he tested and confirmed his

executive abilities. During this period also, throughout the country he

continued, in his persuasive, eloquent way, to persistently and forcefully

advocate his political views. The commercial and financial condition of the

country were in his favor-he was the one man of the hour-and his

countrymen elevated him to the highest position in their gift-to the most

exalted office in the civilized world. He was fully equipped and equal to it.

He not only faithfully fulfilled his promise to the people, but he was sud-

denly called upon to guide the government through a foreign war; through

dangers of the most delicate and far reaching international diplomacy;

through the embroglio of European rivalries-a very vortex of unex-

pected world entanglements-but he did this all, shrewdly, successfully,

splendidly-so that by his statecraft, integrity, strategy and kind firmness.

our Flag was raised to the pinnacle of earthly glory and our Nation

promoted to the vanguard of earthly powers. He was vindicated-re-

warded by an overwhelming reelection-and then the crash of the assas-

sin's bullet--and a prosperous, happy and rejoicing people were as with

the lightning's flash plunged into inexpressible woe and despair.

And what was this man that, though we knew him long ago, ap-

parently now, so summarily bursts upon our view resplendent and revered?

It is not our province to even touch upon the political career and achieve-

ments that alone would have made him illustrious if not immortal. We

Editorialana.                       245

wish to speak only of him as we saw him and he appeared to us. William

McKinley was born the favorite of nature in outward form and feature.

In manhood he had not a stalwart nor majestic frame like Chase or

Garfield. But he was molded in a well proportioned physique-sustained

with staunch and unfailing health.  He had a dignified and distinguished

bearing that made him seem taller than he really was. He stood erect

and moved with an energetic, nervous step, that suggested force and alert-

ness. His handsome head rested firmly and closely upon broad shoulders;

his chin was slightly elevated; and he looked his interviewer squarely

in the face with a frankness and directness that encouraged the timid or

cowed the bravado, as the case might be. His face was Napoleonic in

contour, as the comic and caustic papers delighted to caricature,-his

features were clean cut and classic-deep set, piercing eyes-they were

gray, the prevailing color we are told in intellectual men, but they beamed

with a kindly light. His countenance in conversation wore a genial and

amiable smile, but when in repose it was thoughtful and serious with

almost a tinge of sadness. His voice was soft and sympathetic. He was a

goodly man to look upon-a striking personage--such an one as any

passing stranger would look again to notice or ask the name of, feeling

sure he must be no ordinary person. He walked the earth with the con-

fident conscious tread of royal manhood-and all voluntarily ac-

knowledged the divine right of his manly kingship. He had to an extra-

ordinary degree that indefinable but irresistible quality called "personal

magnetism." He cast a potent spell over all within the circle of his pres-

ence or the range of his influence. But in manner, thought and speech,

he was simplicity itself-there was no affectation-no posing-no officious-

ness-no self-sufficiency-no assertive superiority-no eccentricity-never

a suspicion of egotism or self-centered satisfaction. Though not erudite,

he was an orator of the scholarly type. His enunciation was pleasing and

strong, distinct and resonant-his thought logical, straightforward com-

mon sense; his diction simple, smooth, polished, but not ornate-there was

no juggling of words and parleying with phrases; few flowers of speech;

no wit, humor or anecdote-no pyrotechnics, but there were popular senti-

ments and beautiful expressions in direct, plain, Anglo-Saxon, rhetoric.

His gestures were graceful and subdued. He was intensely in earnest; he

had a message for the occasion and the audience and without flourish or

pretension or pedantry, he delivered his declaration as if it were worthy

their hearing and he was its properly chosen mouth piece. Logic and

reason and justice were his weapons. They were sufficient. He never

appealed to the prejudice, passion or the emotions of his auditors. Dem-

agogy was as foreign to him as vice was to his habits. A great element

of his leadership was his lofty, unflinching and unqualified patriotism-he

loved, adored his country-it was the one object of his devotion and ser-

vice. He believed the Americans were the chosen people of God, as were

the Israelites of old-that the children of this great American republic

246        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

were entrusted by the ruler of nations with the leadership of Christian

civilization-that was the dominant idea of William McKinley and his

enthusiastic and confident expression of that loyal belief aroused the most

patriotic response in the hearts of his countrymen. He loved to please-

it pained him to hurt the feelings of anyone no matter how humble.

He was ever considerate of the feelings of others-ignoring, if possible,

their failings and weaknesses. William McKinley was a true born

gentlemen-one of God's noblemen, he could never have been otherwise-

of him the lines are literally true:

"His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him,

that nature might stand up and say to all the world, 'this was

a man.'"

Because he was amiable and gentle he was accused of weakness-

this was in his political career the one tremendous indictment-he was

weak. Never was there a falser charge. That is the awful arraignment

by the political puller, the office seeker, the disgruntled and the imprac-

ticable-if he cannot attain his object-the appointing power is weak.

The thoughtless and the ignorant and the prejudiced confuse weak-

ness and fairness. We have seen this exemplified in many a public

man-notably Mr. McKinley's predecessor, most intimate friend and

acknowledged model in character and beliefs, Rutherford B. Hayes.

It was our privilege to know Mr. Hayes intimately as well as Mr.

McKinley. Mr. Hayes was a fair, impartial, just man, who carefully

heard both sides, weighed all the testimony and calmly chose that

course which was for the best of all concerned. Hence he was charged

with being weak. But fairness, justness, gentleness is not weakness, far

from it, it is the very essence and basis of strength and firmness. Was

Lincoln weak because his great heart responded to the tearful plea of

the mother for the condemned boy? Was Grant weak because at Appo-

mattox he spared Lee's humiliation by graciously declining the preferred

sword? No, no, gentle sympathetic humanity is not weakness. "The

bravest are the tenderest." "The loving are the daring." Was William

McKinley weak when at the Chicago Convention in 1888 he might have

had the nomination but refused it because he felt in honor bound to

Sherman. Was he weak at the Minneapolis Convention in 1892, when as

president of the convention he was again urged to take the nomination

and nought but honor stood in his way. It is strong to do right, it is

weak to do wrong. William McKinley was wondrously endowed with

political sagacity and tact. He was a master in the art of handling and

moulding men-in appeasing, conciliating, but the exercise of that power-

ful and dangerous faculty by him was never at the sacrifice of truth and

integrity. He loved honors but he loved honor more. While he was a

masterful diplomat-there was never the taint of duplicity or dissimilation

-it was not the scheming of a Richelieu or a Wolsey. Mr. McKinley

Editorialana.                       247

coveted the praise and approbation of men; all rightly constructed men

do-it is a stimulus to effort and an encouragement to success-but he

wanted it above all else to come to him through merit. He would wear

no spurs that he had not honorably won. He was long headed, watch-

ful, patient, he could wait-he was an eminent example of the poets

words--"All things come to him who waits." While with tremendous

powers of self-control he could bide his time, he was however an "oppor-

tunist." He had that sensitive oracular discernment that could see and

seize the opportunity. That is akin to genius. He knew unerringly

when his chance was at hand and he improved it-he never failed to catch

"the tide in the affairs of men which taken in the flood, leads on to

fortune." He had a prophetic soul-he could foresee the logic of events-

he believed in the correct outcome of things-he was a pronounced

"optimist"- that was his principal philosophy and a part of his religion.

Indeed in some of his conversations with us he seemed almost a "fatalist."

But he believed in man and he believed in God. At all times and places

he acknowledged the power and beneficence of Christianity-but he did

not wear his piety upon his sleeve "for daws to peck at." Like Lincoln

he implicitly trusted in a higher power but it was not natural to him to

publicly unveil the shrine of his inner temple. Here too he was greatly

misunderstood and grossly illtreated. He was accused of cant and hy-

pocrisy. How could a man who was such a successful politician be a

genuine Christian? asked the skeptical.  Now the world knows better-

Listen to this from the pen of one who neither admired nor believed in

McKinley before the awful deed: "Mr. McKinley was lifted on the

operating table, stripped for the dreaded ordeal. The doctors were ready

to administer ether. The President opened his eyes and saw that he

was about to enter a sleep from which he might never wake. He turned

his great hazel eyes sorrowfully upon the little group. Then he closed

the lips. His white face was suddenly lit by a tender smile. His soul

came into his countenance. The wan lips moved. A singular and almost

supernatural beauty possessed him, mild, childlike and serene. The sur-

geons paused to listen. A prayer left his lips. "Thy kingdom come, thy

will be done." The voice was soft and clear. The tears rolled down Dr.

Mynter's face. The President raised his chest and sighed. His lips

moved once more. "Thy will be done."-Dr. Mann paused with the keen

knife in his hand. There was a lump in his throat. "For thine is the

kingdom and the power and the glory." The eyelids fluttered faintly,

beads of cold sweat stood on the bloodless brow-there was silence. Then

science succeeded prayer. If there is a nobler scene in the history of

Christian statesmen and rulers than this, I have not heard of it."

No leader was ever so admiringly, so trustfully followed. You do

not need to go far to learn the secret of his success. His sincerity, sim-

plicity, purity, unsullied honor, charming personality, courageous candor

and unselfish, limitless patriotism, made him the most universally re-

248        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

spected and revered president since that one who was first in war, first

in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen. No American was

more genuinely mourned and regretted-no man in history was ever so

widely honored. The countries of Europe and the nations of the Orient

offered tender tribute to his memory. The very governments which he

compelled to fear and respect our flag, voluntarily acknowledged his good-

ness and greatness-and bewailed his untimely death. Unquestionably he

had fewer enemies than any other man who ever filled the chair of our chief

magistracy. Many years ago when a traveling student in Germany we

paid visit to the famous battle-field of Leipsic, where (in 1813) the great

Napoleon, at the head of an army of nearly 400,000 soldiers met the

enemy in far less numbers and suffered merciless and disgraceful defeat.

It was the beginning of the dimming of the lustre of Napoleon's star of

Empire. He was beaten because he was wrong. He was contending at

countless cost of life and property solely for his own self aggrandizement.

And then close by we were permitted to stand on the field of Lutzen (1632)

where in the Thirty Years' war that incomparable leader and Christian

King, the grandest figure of the 17th century, Gustavus Adolphus, led his

little Swedish army of praying soldiers against the immense host of allied

forces under Wallenstein. Gustavus Adolphus against tremendous odds,

was victorious because he was contending for liberty of conscience and

freedom of worship, but he laid down his life on that battle field, and says

Schiller in his graphic portrayal of that event, speaking of the character of

the Swedish leader. "In everything their lawgiver was also their example.

In the intoxication of his fortune he was still a man and a Christian,

and in his devotion still a hero and a King." These are words which

might be said of the martyred slain who sleeps in his simple sepulcher

at Canton.  The great Napoleon reached the highest summit of human

power and glory, but it vanished with his life and is naught to-day but a

reminder of the emptiness and the insufficiency of worldly position and

personal prowess. The cause for which Gustavus Adolphus perished at

Lutzen went on, like a mighty conqueror, in the hearts of every lover of

truth and freedom. And to-day, we in America, are the inheritors of the

righteous result of that battle.

Our memory crowded with his eventful and rapidly passing life,

and our senses stunned with the last tragic act, we stand in terror

and in anger no less than unutterable sorrow-and with feelings almost

of resentfulness at Providence, we ask why was this man of all

others to be thus the victim of the foulest crime that the fiends of

Hell ever committed. It is folly for us to attempt to fathom the causes

or purposes of an infinite law. In his death the president was greater

than in life-the pain almost stifling his speech he expressed a kindly wish

for the assassin-"let them do him no harm." Does it not recall that

tragedy of all tragedies on Calvary-"Father forgive them for they know

not what they do." But William McKinley passed to immortal heights,

Editorialana.                       249

where we shall regard him with worshipful admiration and reverence.

Though decorated with all the honors a nation-a world-could bestow,

there shines through all the man-the noble spotless man.

There is no incident in history to our mind like that journey from

Washington to Canton of the funeral train. The catafalque, upon which

rested the body of the illustrious dead, occupied the center of a spacious

car-the sides of which were glass. It was brilliantly lighted at night,

so that for a long distance the interior of the car and its hallowed con-

tents were plainly visible. As that train sped on through the darkness

of night-winding its way over hill and through dale and past the busy

haunts of men-all spectators gazed silently and sadly at the strange and

solmen sight. Vast numbers in dense cities crowded to the track and in

bared heads and bated breath stood by. And in the open country-in the

gloom of midnight-and the gray of the early dawn, the begrimed miner,

the belated traveler,-the sleepless farmer,-on the hillside-in the valley,

stood motionless or fell on bended knee and uncovered in reverent sorrow

as the bright passing light of that car interior spread its rays athwart the

adjacent fields. Will not the stainless life; the honorable deeds and shining

character of that man shed their sweet influence throughout our nation,

and bring cheer and courage to generations yet unborn-not only in this

land, but throughout the wide, wide world?

"Unbounded courage and compassion joined,

Tempering each other in the victor's mind,

Alternately proclaim him good and great,

And make the hero and man complete."

ISRAEL WILLIAMS.

Hon. Israel Williams one of the earliest members of the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society and for many years one of its trus-

tees, died September 9, 1901. at the St. James Hotel, Denver, Colorado,

where he was temporarily stopping, being engaged in looking after ex-

tensive mining investments in which he was interested.

Isreal Williams was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, August 24,

1827. His parents were William and Mary Marker Williams. Subsequent

to their settlement in Montgomery county the family removed to Cham-

paign county, where Israel, one of the nine children, spent his boyhood

days. He received his early education in the country schools until the age

of eighteen; then left the farm and taught school to obtain means to

pay for further education. Attended the high school at Springfield and the

college at Granville, now Dennison University; graduated at Farmer's

College in 1853; read law with Gunckel and Strong at Dayton, Ohio, and

graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1855 in which year he was

also admitted to the bar. In 1856 he took up his residence in Hamilton,