The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-09-05
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER s, 1866
Mr. Beecher's Letter.

Mr., Beecher's Letter.
MR., HENRY WARD BEECHER's letter is eX-
citing considerable comment IN political cn-
cles, and is evidently regarded by the conser-
vatves as a very important document in their
behalf They probably over-estimate its ip-
fuence, The class OF people whom Mr..
Beecher has formerly been, to some extent a
leader Of are composed of intelligent, think
ing, conscientious men, whose opinions are
the growth of years, and who are likely to be
very little affected by his present extraOrdi-
nary course OF action.
AS q political performance Mr.. Beecher's
letter is dexetrous, yet, after all, thoroughly
commonplace. Logically speaking, it is con-
temptible. He erects a man of straw, and
then assails it with all his wit and eloquence,
apparently unconscious that every intelligent
man sees the character Of the work he is
doing. To lug in false issues and ignore true
ones; to ascr,be to your adversary sentiments
he does not feel and views he does not hold;
TO demons rate truism with great show OF
energy and earnestness, for the purpose OF
aking people think your opponent does not
believe it,--these are the ordinary tricks OF
political disputants, and their adoption by
Mr. Beecher does not ennoble them or make
them less offensive to all who love candor and
sound reasoning.
While these are the obvious faults OF Hr.
Reecher's letter. considered merely as poiiti
cal performance, it has graver defects which
cannot escape the reach Of just criticism.
Dir. Beecher has hitherto stood before
his country and the world as the cham
pion Of equal political and civil rights for the
cnlored man. In these regards he has stood
far beyond most of those cooperating with
him politically, on the very skirmlsh line,
calling on the masses to come up to him.
urging forward the timid, rldiculing the
laggard, and cheering on the whole host
Now, however, he throws the whole weight
OF this posi- ion, and his influence thus
acquired, on the side OF party which most
bitterly hates the colored man; which denies
him every political right; which shuts against
him the doors of educalOn and enlightenment;
which proscrlbes him as a dehumanized out
cast and vagabond, unworthy of a name or
place in the State, and almost without the
pale of humanity itself. This is moral
tre0chery Of no ordinary baseness. And it
does not require one to have held Mr..
Beecher's views to see it to be so. The shouts
of applause which he is now receiving from
every pro slavery journal from Maine TO
Texas are the welcome extended to a new
recruit, not to a returned veteran. Not that
Mr., Beecher has formally retracted any OF his
former utterances, but that his influence is
deliberately given towards the success of
party which he well knows is bitterly, impla-
cably opposed to every principle of his past
life.
II is fortunate that the more intelligent of
our people are, after all, comparatively iDde-
pendent of leaders. A man leads simply be-
cause he goes in advance, and in the direction
which the people are travelling. Sometimes
a leader gets the idea that his leading makes
the people go on that direction, and that they
would follow him in the back track Just as
well; but we do not remember a single in
stance when such an effort has been made and
attended with success. One more is added
to the list Of 'lost leaders," but the people
move right on.