Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-08-02
Gbe 9aiIg Spg.'
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1854.
Thc Ra,lle OF Greytown.


So,,,o neonle cannot bear to see other PEG.
nile get ahead of them. The feeling is COM
mon one, and may be equally observed in
lings. kaisers, presidents, stockholders, ele-
rant ladies, senators, and school children,
Almost all the wars of the world have had
their origin in this feeling of rivalry. Almost
all the spite and feuds of private life have
flowed from the same troubled source. Il
king Bombo steals principality, king Fun
must steal one too, to be up with him. Il
Mr.. Molasses purchases for Mrs Molasses a
$4,000 dress, Mrs. Goldfish can't ltUe unless
she wheedles $500 one out of Mr.. Goldfish.
"Weve got a baby to our house, said a
bright little girl, one morning, to a school
companion, who she probably thought would
feel as she did about it,
"oh, but we've got kitten to ours" was
the saucy reply. And SO it is with the great
majority Of people in this system of eyerlast-
ing rivalry, which we call society. Our am
bition, instead of being the measure of our
own ability, is only the measure of our neigh
boris success. We do not wish to attain what
we deserve, but we think we deserve more
than our most fortunate rival has attained.
Few presidents were ever so tormented with
a desire to excel some % eminent parsonage "
or other, as Frank Pierce. He would like to
be somebody, and tries hard to do somthing,
but he seems to have as poor an idea of the
philosophy of rivalry, as that little girl above
mentioned; or, to speak plainly, while other
men are doing great things, he tries to be as
big as they and only ends in making both
himself and his country contemplate.
The standards of Turkey have had Giurge-
70 and Silistria inscribed upon them of late I,
and, of course, there must be something new
also, written among the beaming folds of
:" the star-spangled banner" Greytown-
formidable, frowning Greytown, falls, and
the land of the brave, and the flag of the
free," appear encircled in such blaze Of
glory, that the Turkish crescent pales its in
efectual light. The Great Macedonian"
after seige and slaughter, took Tyre. Frank
Pierce, after seige and slaughter, took Grey
town; therefore, perhaps, the capture and de-
molition of Greytown will bring our country
glory as long as Tyres dire seige is known in
story. Perhaps, however, history, with
cold, memorable precision, may make note
of the facts of the affair, and in that case
there may be some question about the real
amount of honor won by the administration.
An American captain Injuries the canoe of
Nicaraguan at Greytown, and when remon-
strated with for so doing, deliberately murders
the injured party, at the instigation of Scion
Borland, United States Charge to Central
America. When the authorities of Greytown
seek to arrest the murderer, Borland, the
particeps crinairsis, forcibly resists with bowie
knife and rife, and claims the authority of
his Office, as foreign minister, SO to do
The insulted, excited people of Greytown
hoot at him, and hold out the finger of scorn
to him; and because the Greytown authori-
ties would not apologize for these acts,
United States ship of war batters down their
city, destroys all the property in it, and then
sends company of sailors and wantonly
fires the debris of the late city, large
amount of the property being that of Ameri-
can citizens. Posterity may have some value
for fairness. and they may not consider that
the casus bel1i, after all, was a good one, on
-OsT part Again, history may record the fact
that the army and navy of Greytown were not
so strong as ours, and that its inhabitants
were less numerous than those of the United
States-that in fact they had no army or navy'
and that 500 wooden sheds and shanties all
told, comprised the contributions they had
made to general architecture, and posterity
may not after all give US credit for much
courage. If such is the case, Frank Pierce
and Commander Hollins will scarcely b.
thought as mighty heroes as Alexander, Ju
ius Caesar, Tom Hyer, or Morrissey. Blu
after all, Frank knows best what he is fit for
and probably, in bombarding Greytown, ha
done the very brayest and best thing that HI
could do. In the military line, at any rate
his exploits there comport very well witt
those which the impartial pen of history records
of the Presidents campaigns in Mexico, where
the sight of the enemy induced fainting fit
and the smell of gunpowder brought on con-
vulsion.