Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-13

EAN11 1
mi. eriguique vol,lptas, altiog that re-
renee is the luxury of a weak and little
mind ard when eczema SEvERUs pro-
,osed to de6ree an altar to the Goddess
Revenge, TrBzRIUs forbade it. Never
.heless, we do heartily rejoice, when the
svenging Gods, or the Furies, gindtees
f~acinor1un, the publishers of crime, exc
cute Justice upon a great criminal like
SEWARD.
Anti-Mason, Wing, Aboiitionist, Re-
publican, Advocate, Senator, Secretary
and Diplomatist, he has always mag
ined that cunning and duplieity, thinly
yelled by a treschsrous suavity and the
nretenee Of moderation and the soft
charities of forgiveness of insults, u
be substituted in the stead Of statesman
shin and wisdom. His intellect was
never opestenough to make him agreat
LAWYER. since he had a natural inclina-
ton to prefer error to truth, the defense
Of error affording the better field Tor the
display of a nimble dexterity IN arga-
m~entatiop. As a Senator he rested his
homes Of fame on a few snowy antithe-
ses and paradoxes that he imagined
striking and original. As a Dlpioma-
fist. his copious rice-water dispatches
excited the quiet contempt Of European
stotssmen. AS a War-Minister, he re-
rived Letfres de cachet and the Bastiile,
and the Dry Tortugss were his French
Cpfsna. We see to-day, in an estab-
rsbad.Mlitary Despotism, the miserable
failure of his projects for reconstruction
He and the President were not eagle
eyed enough to see that the country was
in a condition of decayed patriotism and
chronic ~rascality, whence, according TO
| the saving Of Victor Hugo, applicable to
many conditions Of quagmire, and par
ticularIv to those OF public affairs, on
ne Dssa Sc tirer par de8 Periphrasesi
pq- dcs QucmddmoduHas ct des rerona'
| enjmJeros whence it was not to be ex-
tricated by periPhrasS, quemddmo'
drgls and UerumeaimUeros. He nevel
saturated himself with the conviction
of truth, but only had relations with it.
Dar amours. He eve acted on WhaI
he Eae,c. that as to civilized opinions
"Hyaa par5er que toats idee PUbljque.
toute convention recue, est n sottiset
ear ellie q conUenue az Plus graao
noBBrs that every popular idea
everything conventionally received anc
recognized, is a folly, because it has beer
approved Of by a majority Of votes.
Mr.. SEwARD's augmentation largely
consists: " de Hier &c qui est, ct GeEp6
guer, &c quj NEST pds":-of denying
what is, and explaining what is not
He never reached the truth, as womer
and Indians do, by instinct. His dis
honesty is equally of the intellect anC
heart; and was never more signally dis
| plsved than when, about June, 1868
while the war was considered as still ex
isting, for the purpose Of legalizing th'
murder of men and women by Military
! Commissions, he notified foreign govern.
thents that it WAS at an end, in order t
claim for the United States Confederate
vessels in English ports.
Shortly before the war, all the worlC
Of Washington crowded to hear Mr
| SEWARD, who was to read a carefully
prepared speech on the situation, aaC
was expected to propose some plan of re
Cancellation that would avert secession
and war. The most sanguine expecta
tons were entertained, and men really
| believed that Mr.. SEWARD was about t
prove the Saviour of the Country. We
were satisfied that these expectation:
would be disappointed, for we had the
same opinion Of his intellectual charae.
ter then, that we have now, and we pre-.
ferred reading his speech in the Globe, tC
/ hearing it read in the Senate. We were
like MALHERBE, who, invited to dinner
by the Archbishop Of Rouen, for the pur'
pose Of hearing read a sermon, which the
Prelate was about to preach, composed
himself to sleep after dinner, and when
the Archbishop proposed to him to heal
the sermon, said, "He! je vOuS prize, dis
peusez m'eR! Jc dornliray 6jeR, san,
cela r'-He I pray you, excuse me. ]
shall sleep quite well without that
Nevertheless, we did read the Grafton,
It's sentences marched on with much
pomp and pretence, but the author did
not even begin to rise to the height Of the
occasion. The subject was greater than
he and all the world was angryat being
disappointed. Nj. SEWARD is a chica-
nelr, and not a Statesman.
He cannot be truly called a great man.
He is shrewd, dextrOus, nimble OF intel
Iect, writes well, is well-read and good
lawyer, but not a great one. he is
speeious, snowy, without principle in
his politics, and dangerous. There is
enough in him, as was said Of the MAR
QUIs DE SoURDIs, wherewith to make
8 quatre honnestes gens,' and yet he is
not I'm honneSte homme.' He is wses
the Pope said RICHELIEU would be.
When about to be ~consecrated a Bishop,
the Pope askeddor-se had attained the
necessary age. He said yes and after
conservation asked dissolution for having
told him he was Of age, when he Yves
not. The Pope said, 'QUest0 gj0UGHe
sara an gran JQy5o;' that young man
viii be a great rogue. His antithetical
sayings are new, only because they are
false. Such are his division Of the
States into 'Labour States and Capt
tai States , and his phrase, that 'Slav-
cry makes small States and dwarfs large
ones.' For, did it dwarf Sparta, Athens,
Carthage or Rome? Were Virginia and
South Carolina small or dwaTfed? We
to the country that mistakes such men
for statesmen, and follows their counsel!
The maxim, "DefuHctj tnjuria, ne
oIiicidyttur let not the dead be vexsd
with eontumely-does not include the
politically dead. On the memories Of
these, it is lawful to take revenge. Five
years ago, we said of Mr.. SEWARD, We
hope that when he falls, politically, he
may have as little cause for gratitude TO
Heaven, as the Sire de CREUY thought
he had, when, falling from the top to the
bottom Of a staircase and breaking no
bones, be was told that he ought to be
very thankful to God. 'Je men garde-
ray5jen,5 he said, Zine ns'opaS espargpe
aHaecbelon ~ shall be very far from it.
He has not spared me a single stair"
Mr.. SEwARD's political definition OF the
word " honorable" would be, tkat which
is politically profitable.
We have not trusted Mr.. SEWARD,
when his professions were most
generous. The late civil war was, in a
measure, owing to his " ingenuities
Of political villainy." We do not speak
Of him as a man, but emily as a politician
and statesman as q man he is genial
and amiable. As a statesman he ISSUES
Iezfrcs dc cachet, and is equally wanting
in greatness and generosity, having
cent Uertu dc UaJet,
r pas uJtc ueTtHr dc m0lStTe5
a hundred virtues of the valet, and not 8
one Of the master. The people
certainly, in this case, mistook the
cuckoo for the nightengaie to which it
is chiefly owing that prosperous States
decay into ruin. Our evils are wholly