The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-08-26

HlStOfy Will not sooh weary Vi recoruiDg tne
patriotic support given by the New York mer-
chants to the government during the war,
From the time that the first gun was fred al
Fort Sumter down to tie returz of peace the
administration mas willingly supplied with all
the men and money it required at their hands
They organized that great war meeting in
April, 1861, which reused the whole country as
well as this metropolis. They formed the
Union Defence Committee, which was war
department in itself, and rapidly filed up our
armies They raised regiments and sent them
to the field They contributed provisions for
the soldiers and delicacies for the sick and
wounded. They freighted huge ships with
their gifts. They fed the Southern poor as
we recapMred the rebel ports. They
gave our heroes Thanksgiving and
Christmas dinners They paid the salaries of
the clerks who enlisted They supported the
families of many of their military employees.
They kept up the enthusiasm of the people by
war meetings and flag raisings. All this and
more they have done heartily, cordially and
spontaneously; and we have yet to learn that
loyalty or claimed the privilege Of grumbling
as payment for their patriotism.
The record of the merchants OF Boston during
the war is by no means so bright They ap-
pear to have been continually engaged in
trying to solve the problem how to keep their
own men at home and send other men to the
front. They established more recruiting
stations down among the ignorant negroes of
the South than upon Boston Common. They
sent agents abroad to hire volunteers to take the
places of Massachusetts, men. The vast majority
of their representatives in the army never
saw the city whose quota they filled. They
were Boston people only on paper. If the
Boston merchants held meetings it was to listen
to the diatribes of Wendell Phillips, who elected
their cheers by abusing President Lincoln as
"tortoise" and s'slave driver" They were
much more interested in the question of negro
soldiers than in the question Of Yankee soldiers.
They worked very hard to get the negroes into
the United States uniform, and equally hard to
keep their own citizens out of danger They
were devoted to themselves first, the negroes
next and the Union last Of all. They were
patriotic enough to make plenty of money from
government contracts, and managed TO pocket
almost as much as New York contributed. Yet
in spite of all this, they were never sat-
isfed with the President, the administra-
ton, the conduct of the war or any,
thing else. Their grumbling was chronic
They would do nothing Internationally
When the President appealed to their
patriotism they endeavored to draw him into a
trade. When he asked for men they wanted
to know if he would dicker with them for
emancipation. Thus, in response to one of the
Presidents calls, Governor Andrew replied
that his young men all had other views, but II
the government would arm the negroes, his
young men would "swarm" and "pour" to
the field. That was Boston loyalty, and the
sequel was that the negroes were armed, but
the Bostonians never "swarmed."
This being the comparative record of the
two cities during the war, their record since
the war has been no less characteristic. The
New York merchants have cheerfully assisted
President johnson in carrying out bis scheme
Of rsorss:: asisatiep, They a Lave started steam
lines to Southern ports; they have begun to
reopen their Southern trade they have in
vested their capital in enterprises to de.
velop the resources of the South; and,
while doing this, they have welcomed
the Southern people back into the Union, and
said nothing to delay the restoration of fra
ternal sentiments or to impede the President in
the great work which, by special dispense
ton of Providence, he has been called upon to
perform. What the Boston merchants have
done Is Of quite another character. As they
were once more devoted to abolitionism than
to the preservation Of the Union, 80 they are
now more anxious for negro suffrage than for
the re-establishment of the Union. Since the
war ceased their grumblings have been louder
than ever. The inference is obvious that they
are sorry to have peace return. They have
held a meeting to assure President johnson
that be could not have reunion without
negro suffrage. They have put forward
Wendell Phillips, their favorite orator, to
threaten reputation if their demands were
not granted. These efforts failing, they have
still further distinguished themselves by con-
cocting letter or lecture to the President in
which they tell him what ought to be done,
what ought not to be done, what will
succeed what will not succeed, what the
negroes should have, what the Southerners
should have, and many other things Of which
they presume President johnson to be wholly
ignorant, and Of which they claim to possess
the exclusive Information. President Johnson,
himself Southern man, understands the wants,
he capabilities and the necessities Of the South
better than any Boston merchant in existence,
md II he ever reads the impudent letter 10
which we refer 1t will only be to laugh at its
plumbers and its hectoring tone.
We have shown the striking contrast be-
woen the conduct of the New York and Boston
nerchants during and aimee the war and wa