New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-03-13
THE EyERu.sTsyG pECKsNIFp.

many years OF much talk and small performance
after the manufacture of printed babbloment
| by the bale--aftcr long and drcary seasons of
debate, with clouds of dusty and sheety showers
Of watcry rhetoric, the conviction must by this
time have forced itself upon the general mind,
chat nations cannot live by prattc alOne-that in
no chorus of Congressional yOcal.sts are we to
| find salety--that fact must be met by fact and
ial,ebCods conquered by ycritics-that the chief
| end Of government is tie sublime silence
Of resolute endeayor, and that practice
! been much and uiiserabIy betaihed
nation. Sound at heart aud udicially cOnscien-
| tious. we have listened with erect ears, and
sometimes with uucommorly long ones; and
when some hoary headed old sinner has spoutcd
to US of his country and his Cod of his self
devotion and patriotism, We have believed
him with q charming simplicity until be ran
away with the public dollars. This could not
always last. In fact Mr.. Buchanan, among other
and innnmerahlc fay0rs conferred by him upon
the couniry-for who has given us more valuable
lessons has involuntarly struck n dcath-blow
to this system of gable, at least, has brought
| il into wholesome disreputr. Ii was time to stop
mere talk, indeed, when such man prated OF
lis yirtues of his wisdom, of his sagacity, OF his
purity, Of bis clean hands and of bis honest heart
| The thing became too ridiculous to be amusing
To tell the truth it was almost tragic.
But Mr.. Buchanan has now made his last
speech, or certainly his last having relation to
great national affairs. As lie approached Wheat
| land the Laucasterian populacc waylaid lin, sa-
lu.cd him with gun and bell and noisy cheer, and
then demanded a speech. IL was a cruel ordca',
bui Mr. Buchanan met it brn'cly aud told his
aeighbors and friends" how his heart was
Z" swelling how he expected coon TO die, how
when be was in Russia he sfectionatey re-
mcmbercd Lancaster how when he was Il
Young man Lancaster took him mp and
pei,ed him, how he intended to live in
The future in The character Of bcnclactur of
4" the widow and tue fatherle,s,' aud how he
hoped the Union would be perpetual. Now there
is no pos.tige harm in ibis sort of small speech
making, except in the assumption upon the part
of the speaker that throughout bis career, he has
always been an honest public servant, has done
nothing to be- ashamed at, rnd therefore Is no;
ashamed. This il what Mr.. Buchanan would
have Us believe Of LimscE lie wants US TO for
get lis history, and h. love him dearly upon the
strength Of an amiablc fiction. He went on to
say that an Administration incomparnbly the
worst which the country has ever had, was a
great aud glorious triumph; that ii anything has
gone wrong he il not responsible for It; that his
partially successful efforts 10 wreck and ruin Us
are worthy Of our highest gratitude; aud that.
happea what may, he retires from Office after
meeting all his responsibilities with all necessary
wisdom End courage.
II j. not for us TO handy words with q dead
man. lie has not made remarkably good shrilt
in public-perhaps no viii make u better one in
private. We refer to him because there are
sound philosophical reasons for believing that he
il the last perfect specimen which the country
viii sec, for some time at least, OF his class.
Such men can have no important part or lot in
the DAYS which arc already upon us. Too often
and too long, We know, tfimmers and timc-
servers ore able TO distract the public attention,
TO preach peace with some applause when there
is no peace, to take it for granted that every
thing ia settled when everything is in chaos, and
TO assume without being generally gibed at, that
this or the other BIT Of legisaton-sone con-
temptible or cruel act of COngres3-will prove
potent to allay the busy do'l Of controversy.
But Just now we are at the end OF our rhetori-
| cal rope. One Of the late Nr. Choato's finest
bits Of calico oratory was description Of the
Union Disunited. 1t was rs fearful as fine words
could make it, He painted great, volcanic
fssure, black, PERCEPTIONS and jagged, in the de-
scriptiOn Of which he exhausted dictionaries, md
| then imagined new. He iaHced flat by these
artistic efforts he could make his hearers believe
that the only way to save Tie State would be-
TO elect Mr. Buchanan! His appeals, and those
Ike his were not made in vain; and Mr.. buchanan
was elected Nh Ckoate is lot here to witness Tie
| result Of that sanatiyc event; but Mr.. Choate .
fssurc ia here and, after four years Of Mr.. Blu.
chanan's reign, tie volcano ia uncommory lively,
We are charged sometimes with snecring at
| union.Sayors who considcr Themselves and
are considered by others TO be the salt If the
Garth. We Judge them BY their works. They
do hot save the Union. Their pills and pOtion'
are inpotent. When they have their own way,
things are always at the wort. When they do
not have their own way, they wall and sco and va
ticnate. They talk Of theryrtues and OF our vices
of what they would do il they were IN and We
we're ont. They cry and scream and make such
q din that society il soon in that state OF dis
traction in which they flourish and are triumphant.
They have no principles but they have quaint
ties Of pretty poetry. The Union is sentiment,