The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1867-11-22

publication ofthe kind, andEhat itwoult
command Il ready SALE" s.r.9'r /
; $50 far as my personal knowledge
! goes this is the only book which John
: NJ. Daniel ever thought seriously oi
:, making. 1 agreed with him then and
, i can but think now, that the present
owners of the Examiner would do well
to carry out his views. In the impover-
ished condition of the South, at this
Z precise time, it is idle to expect very
large sale of any publication whatso-
4 ever but the day will come, l trust,
when the bonnd volume of selections
from the .aExaminer will hayp place
in.every Southern gentlemen s library.
\ John M. Daniel was emphatically an
Editor---not a newspaper contributor
but an editor and politician. lie was
enough of the latter to have made a
name inlthe Cabinet. He,was no ora
tor, although he had an orators mouth.
kneYer heard of his making public
speech He must have had q great
acknowledgements to speaking.9 Could
he have overcome this repugnance, he
had command enough of language to
have ensured him considerable distinc-
tion in forensic display; but his tempo r
was far too hot and quick to admit OF
success in debate. He knew men, in
the light in which politician views
them, thoroughly well. His natural
faculty OF weighing measures. and of
foreseeing their effects. was much
above the common. He had in him the
elements of statesman. His histori-
cal studies and his knowledge of man
kind, were not ingain. Beforeth the first
blow was struck and when both Mr..
Benjamin and Mr.. Seward, speaking
the sentimentsof their respective pee-
sples, were issuing their " ninety days
u It's, "he prophesied not only the mag,
nitude, bpt the inhuman and unchristiail
ferocity ofthg. late war. And who, in
this sad hour can forget how, as the
struggle drew near its close, he strove
day after day and week after week, to
revive the tagging spirits, and to kindle,
anew the energy and thejcpurage. of the
Southern people by terrible pictures of
the fate which has ever attended. sop
pressed nationalities?" 1t Is true that,
these articles were written by John
MITCHELL; but they were inspired by
Daniel Alas those prophecies, like all
others, have been Interpreted fully
only in their completion. ~.
q AS politician, eminence was not his.
Had he lived, it is as certain as any
thing human can be, that he would have
iilled an honored niche in the. temple
of political fame; but his celebrity was
destined to be confined to the domain
of Journalism. Therein he obtained a
distinction which has been surpassed
by none and equallea by few Amer
lean Journalists. His place is by the
side of Thomas Richie, Hampton Pleas
ants and Joseph Gales. As an editor,
he was to politicians what the Earl of
Warwick was to Kings ls habgint
% SIT is said," he remarked to me, one |
day, ~that my admiration for Floyd is
due to the fact that Floyd mades me-
The truth is, made iFloyd.n lrnh
He was accustomed to magnify his !
office of editor, and his exalted opinion
of Gen. Floyd was based not upon graf |
tude but upon his estimate of the man
himself. 1t has beenisaid that thequali-
tyfwhich women most admire in men is
strength" The assertion holds equal
ly good of mans admiration for man,
and is especially true IN regard to John
nj. Daniel. He wershipped strength
but strength, of mind and
of body, He dispised fools and weak
lings of all sorts. Goodness moral
qualities--he threw entirely out of the
account. He did not much believe in the
existence of these qualities, and when
they did exist, he regarded them as but |
evidences of weakness. Floyd was his /
s'man of bronze''--therefore he liked
him. OF another and more distin-
guished politician, he would speak in
terms of extreme contempt. she sniv-
els--he weeps, The would say, in tones of
indescribable disgust. Often have l
heard him expatiate upon Wigfall's
magnificent physique andhis unmistake-
able natural courage. "Itis the .genu-
inc thing" he would say. "There
is no put on there. He has got native
pluck-the actual article it is no strain
to him to exhibit it. The gritis in him,
and you can't shake him." a,.I. - aI
OfDaniel's own courage, think can
speak safely and correctly; and may
as we'll do SO here, although had in
ended TO defer mention of it until i
came to the discussion of his character
as man. stI 13IIlg iQg 's.I. ..l.s. -,.
He did not have the hard animal
bravery ofNigfalll;a it was not in his
constitution. His highly wrought ner-
vous system was not sufficiently pano-
piled withdrawn to ensure it against
the agitation arising fr1Hl a sudden
shock or the violence ofat@nexpected
attack with the fist or club. 4 Nor was
he OF that tough and wiry make, which.
enables some fragile men to meet the,
rudest physical assaults without an
outward tremor. But he had courage
of another sort and had it in alhigh de-
gree. What is generally called moral
courage, but is more properly intellec-
tual courage-that is bravery which is
founded not upon combativeness, the
consciousness of muscular strength or
upon great atexcitability unrestrained by