The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-10

II
upon the suicide Of a young man who had
lost his all in them. 'This >" said Mr.. Greeley,
"only proved that the young man was a per-
son of weak character and had nothing to do
with the question whether the State ought to
license lotteries" He seems lately to have
discovered that it is not quite safe to assume,
on this subject, at least, that the mass of men
have strong characters.
Mr.. Greeley drifted into political life as pas
slvely as into his other occupations. In 1888
weekly political paper, published at Albany,
needed an editor, and he was selected on
account of the extensive knowledge of political
statistics which he had exhibited in the Ne,o
Yorker His course at first was a moderate
one, but his feelings soon made him a jealous
politician and a warm partisan as was shown
in the clog Cabin" campaign in 1S40-4l, and
subsequently in the Tribune. The hdbitu6s of
the Tribune office, on election nights, do not
need to be reminded of the enthusiastic and
peculiar yells with which Greeley was wont
to welcome favorable returns, nor the Tar
tarean imprecations which were showered by
him with equal zest upon news of defeat. His
ardent devotion to Clay is well known and
how he flung himself out of the Philadelphia
Convention in 1S4S, in understandable rage
when Taylor was nominated, instead Of his
favorite. His homage to "Harry Clay was
that which childish and immature nature
pays involuntarily to one which is eminently
masculine, mature, ana strong.
1t is not needful to review political career
so well and widely known as that of Mr. Gree
ley. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the
events of the recent war, which developed his
characteristic weaknesses in so glaring light.
A few quotations will show how dangerous a
person he would have been for a leader, in
emergencies which called for masculine cou-
rage and manly endurance, and how weak
staff we should have leaned upon had he
hoo 81, nI,a rrrr;fa Of4
lines remembers, as all other patriots who
then CHANGED to reside in the South well
remember, the dismay with which we read
such words as these, in the Tribune of Novem-
Der g., lS60-
'If the cotton States shall become salts
fed that they can do better out of the Union
than in it, we insist on letting them go in
peace.'
And this of November 26, 1S60:-
eff the cotton States unitedly and earnestly
wish to withdraw peacefully from the Union,
we think they should and would be allowed
to do so. Any attempt to compel them by
| force to remain would be contrary to the
principles enunciated in the immortal Declara-
tion of Independence, contrary to the funda-
mental principles on which human liberty is
| based"
And this of December II, 1861
''If it (the Declaration) justified the seces-
sion from the British empire of three millions
of colonists in l776, we do not see why it
| should not justify the secession of five mil
lions of Southrons from the Union in 1851"
And this February %, 1851
''Whenever it shall be clear that the great
body of the Southern people have become con-
clusively alienated from the Union, and anxious
to escape from it, we will do our best to for
ward their views"
After the great uprising had demonstrated
how deeply and utterly the common sense and
manhood of the American people repudiated
this cowardly twaddle, Mr.. Greeley illustrated
his insincere special pleading, by insisting
than he meant to include the blacks as well as
the whites when he referred to the "great
body OF the Southern people, as though he ever
| supposed they would or could have have any
| voice in determining the question of secession.
| This is a characteristic habit of his, to thrust
his head into the sand like the ostrich, blind
to the nakedness which is palpable to every
body else.
During the war the same timidity displayed
itself Mr.. Greeley had no more confidence in
the courage and persistence of the loyal peo-
pie than he had in his own. His nervous un-
easiness and dread of failure and constitu-
tional horror at the sight of blood, developed
themselves in such paragraphs as this, of Janu-
ary %, 1861
''If three months more of earnest fighting
shall not serve to make serious impression
|
tiny and make the best attainable peace"
And again, June II, 1861
eff the Rebels are indeed our masters, let
them show it, and let us own it,"
Even the victories of Vicksburg and Gettys-
burg did not encourage Mr.. Greeley. In July,
1864, he informed Mr.. Lincoln that ''our
bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country
longs for peace, shudders at the prospect OF
fresh conscriptions, of further wholesale de-
vastation, OF new rivers of human blood;" and
he begged the President to treat with the
Rebels, even at the risk of recognizing them.
These facts, together with recent eccentrici-
ties of conduct, show that Mr.. Greeley's mind,
thing of his feelings, and that those feelings
are very unsafe and unreliable guides.
Perhaps no iuster criterion can be found by
which to Judge Horace Greeley than the ex
ample of Benjamin Franklin. Their circum-
stances and manner of life were remarkably
similar Both were led providentially to posi-
tions of great prominence and influence. II
is the constitutional qualities of the two men
which have given them so different character
and reputation. With no more advantages
than Greeley, Franklin became easily the
suave habituI of the royal saloon. He was re.
lied upon as the safe counsellor of statesmen
In the midst of revolution he never lost his
calmness nor his courage. He was universally
recognized as pre-eminently possessed of com
mon sense. Withal, his mind was capaoious
and philosophical. He never lost sight O
facts. His theories were not visionary. His
plans were always practical. In what respect
does Mr.. Greeley furnish parallel to his ad
mitted wisdomH Rather in what great quality
doas ha mot rrasant a stronp cOntrast2 Frank