The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1863-03-07
From the N. Y. Independent.
HENRY WARD BEECHER ON
THURLOW WEED.


of disloyal newspaper at Harrisburgh, Pa, the
Government should have suppressed the vastly
more dangerous and incendiary Independent, Of
New rk."-[ Thurlow Weed, Albany EUeRing
Journal, Jan 7, 1863
'My point has been, distinctly that our danger
arises from the blind and frantic course of the
n. Y. Tribune and Independent, the extreme
views of Messrs. Sumner, Phillips. Gerrit Smith,
and their followers, by whom the Administration
! is beleaguered, importuned and prosecuted
! Ibid, Jan. 49, 1853
| We have long known that The Indepen-
dent was not favorite of Mr. Weed. But
neither were his policies palatable to US, and
so we were even. But, on several occa-
sions lately, Mr.. Weed has manifesteda
bitter feeling toward The Independent.
There we have him at advantage. Our feel
! ings are sweet and gentle. And by his re-
firing from position which we sincerely
believe he can no longer hold with profit to
his country, be has made us even more
amiable. If we could believe that this
meant REIMBURSEMENT also of all attempts
to control the politics of the country by his
peculiar views and methods, we should join
those who tender to him their compliment
tary sympathies on his retiring from long
and arduous public life.
Mr.. Weed belongs to a school of politi-
clans, unfortunately known in every coun-
try and age, who erect politics into de-
partment outside of Christian ethics or re-
ligious principles. Mr. Weed may, from
the happy accident of better moral en-
dowment than his companions, have escap-
ed many of the errors Of his class. But
the school to which he belongs is school
of politicians, and not of statesmen. 1t
never graduates statesmen. It Away sends
ont
A statesman must be man of compre-
tied faith in mere management. A states
which in the end control human volitions
and shape mems policies. A politician re-
sorts rather to expedients and arrangements,
and in the end is apt to lose faith in any
thing but the devices of party and the
hackneyed motives by which bad men are
controlled, and good men tempted through
their weaknesses.
A statesman never loses sight of great
moral principles, and politician seldom
gets sight of them.
We are sorry to say that New York and
Pennsylvania have bred, for the last fifty
years, a generation of most astute politi-
ticians of the most INSCRIPTIONS and dan
gerous kind. They have been men with
out moral convictions. They have lost faith
in human integrity. They believe that
every man has his price. Such men must
at length cease to reckon upon moral con-
victions as of validity or practical force in
the conduct of State and National politics
This training not only ruins its disciples,
but corrupts the public mind, weakens the
Government, and lays the community oper
f to the dangers which arise from the passions
of unprincipled men when thwarted il
, their schemes. There can be neither mora
principle nor even patriotism in men who
have learned to put party above country
and to serve the party, even, by employing
the worse motives for the accomplishment
of the most selfish ends.
If Mr.: Weed has not manifested the wOrs
features of such a school, it must be attrib
: uted rather to his natural generosity anC
:, personal integrity. So long as his spher
was New York, and the topics of party
i were local and secular, he has been adroi
: and reasonably successful. But the mo
/ ment he attempted, in these great days o
n revolution, to transfer to national affairs th
Il petite arts ard snmg sh.e;i ness of lowe
n sphere, he found himself impotent. H
# was like man skillful in rowing a skitf o.
/: his own fsh-pond, and thought that b
i would try the Atlantic Ocean during a
n equinoctial storm Losing sight of land
he lost sight of everything. He was use
TO headlands and shores, but not to s' sSTs
He could not take observations of planet
higher than storms. He calculated by To-
and dead reckoning.
E o great people with little men to lea
7 thanh n nation Of Grand oor,r,oD paOD1e
n but contemplate politicians A people O
e faiths aud Inspirations deluded by me
d without convictions, bold only in ju0gie:
e and towards in moral principles. Chris
G came again to this people, saying as Of ole
u ''He haiti aiaoiRted me to preach the Gosp
l. to the poor he hath sent ne to heal the broken
n hearted, to preach deliVeTauee to the captives
:. and recoVering Of sight to the blind, to set q
, liberty them that are bruised i'' And t
this Mr.. Weed and those of his school re
piled, What have we to do with Thee
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou com
to torment us before our time?''
Had there been full Nan 10 counsel thi
! Government and people in the beginning
It from the hour of Fremont's proclamatio
4, the victory would have begun. The pee
pie were ready. All the nobler sentiment
of the nation were active. Had wise an
ar morally bold counselor moved the nations
of policy with the national heart, we Shout
le have overwhelmed this despots' rebellio
g with irreversible disaster long ago. Blu
st politicians feared lest Government shout
N go faster than the people! The Presider
A. was held back. Naturally slow and eau
,, tious, weights were hung upon him to max
70 hesitation yet more irresolute. While a
70 the Presidents matured convictions wer