The Daily Union

MR. SEWARD'S LAST SPEECH

Mr. Seward made but a poor display of statesmanship in his last speech in the Senate. It was a weak-minded device to "call up" the spirit of John Quincy Adams to justify his assault upon Mr. Cass. It was in bad taste to assume the mantle of Mr. Adams while avenging an old spite and gratifying a chronic dislike. John Quincy Adams's fame needs not such a defender; and certainly not such a defence as Senator Seward made in the United States Senate on Wednesday.

Accepting Mr. Seward's professions of attachment to the principles of progress for what they are worth, we can discover nothing else in the speech which it would not have been more creditable to his character, and more favorable to his claim to be considered a statesman, to have left unsaid. Indeed, the speech is strikingly illustrative of the mental characteristics of the senator from New York. It is a daguerreotype of his idiosyncrasies. He would not oppose the Monroe doctrine—he knows better than to run counter to a sentiment in the popular mind, growing stronger every day—but he would not support it in a manly, straightforward manner. To do so would require from him a most painful effort to overcome nature and habit. The temptations to an opposite course were too strong for him to resist. Distinction is not so easily gained by following the lead of loftier intellects; and men seeking to create and represent a new party must not use their weapons to strengthen the position of opponents.

Of all the speeches yet made on the Monroe doctrine, Mr. Seward's is the greatest failure. It is only remarkable for its snaky, sneering, insincere spirit, thus confirming an impression which has long existed regarding the author's chief mental traits. It contains some miserable logic; and, except in the attack on Mr. Cass, is pointless and trashy.—N. Y. Sun.