The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-01

ernor Seymour has been in public life a good
many years, and II his record shows anything
beyond the craft and capacity OF a mere politl-
clan, the people want to know IL. He has care
M re successful in obtaining nomin AT" atous SV
declining them than any public character of hts
time He is at home In caucus and convention;
he knows how 10 arouse the passions and pre-
judices of mob; it is not known that he re
CARDS treason and rebellion against constituted
small acts OF politics to the ioftier' aims OF
statesmanshlp Still, IL is said he is a states
man. II so, where is the proot?"
We could perhaps make more satisfactory
response to this call for light, If the Cincinnati
Commercial had given its own ideal of what
entities public man to be called a statesman.
A definition which would include General
Grant and exclude Governor Seymour would
be a curiosity in political literature. The tenor
of the Commercials interrogations implies that
a candidate for President ought TO be states
man, and with respect to the present election
il might be a sufficient reply to simply retort
the questions, and ask for the proofs OF Gene
raj Grants craftsmanship. He has no original
opinions ON public questions, nor capacity to
form any; no steadness in adhering to the
opinions he has from time to time borrowed
from others; no eloquence; no ability to make
great, or even respectable figure in a de-
Lucrative assembly; no knowledge of the
politics of foreign countries, and but
slender and scanty acquaintance with the
political economy, those great departments of
inquiry so essential to a well-equippad states
man, he is not even novice not even tyro;
he has never studied them at all He gradu-
ated at the military school not far from the
foot of his GLASS; while he remained in the
army he was not studious to enlarge the small
stock of knowledge he acquired at West
Point; resigning to avoid dismissal in con-
sequence of Incorporate habits, his subse-
quent occupations as a small farmer in Mis-
souri, and tanner at monthly wages in
Illinois, though honest and respectable, were
not very promising school for training a
statesman. When the supporters of such
man question the ripe qualifications of Gov
ernor Seymour, they make themselves ridi-
cuous.
1t is quite true that Governor Seymour
has never held Office under the Federal Gov
ernment the Democratic party of this State
not having elected Senator since Mr.. Dick
inson, in 1851 nor had Cabinet appointment
| since Mr.. Marcy, in 1858. But Mr.. Sey-
mour has made himself as much felt in
national politics out Of Office as many other
| statesmen have in. And this is, perhaps,
the most satisfactory proof of superior ability.
! The late John A. Andrew, whom all the Re-
| publicans class as a statesman, Is another
instance of a man, who, though mere Gov
| ernor of a State, won a national reputation.
| He acquired it, as Governor Seymour
has, by his utterances on great national ques-
tions. man who by the mere force of his
talents, thus commands the attention of the
nation, is of a higher order than
those who must be lifted upon a pedestal
| before they can b. heard. We suppose the
| Cincinnati Commercial would not dispute that
| the late Mr.. Liucoln was statesman; but
what proofs had he given of it previous to his
election to the Presidency? The Commercial
| can point to nothing but his controversy with
| DOUGLASS wi thpU Illinois n
| gether for the Senatorship. A man who could
| hold his own even tolerably against such a
debater as Douglas must have had a pretty
fair grasp of national questions. What figure
| Grant would make in such a grapple with a
| statesman Mr.. Greeley has many times in
the Tribune, expressed his approval of candi-
dates confronting each other on the stump, as
Douglas and Lincoln did, thinking it an etfec-
tual bar against the election of fools and noodles
to high offices. Wonder if Mr. Greeley would
like to see the experiment tried between Grant
and Seymour?
Free government is government by public
| opinion. In free countries statesmen build up
great reputation chiefly by the breadth and
sagacity of their utterances on public ques-
| tions. Wesuppose the Cinninnah Commercial
regards John Bright as statesman; but Bright
has won his rank precisely as Governor Sey
mour has won his, by making the ablest
speeches of any man in his country of this de-
ago, as the first statesman in the Republican
party the only foundation of his claim being
his stump speeches in the Senate and on
the stump. Up to the time he was made Sec
retary of the Treasury, the Cincinnati Com
merciaES fellow citizen, Governor Chase, had
nothing else to support his high reputation as
a statesman. Let the Commercial select the six
best speeches of John Bright, or of Mr. Seward
or of Mr. Chase, and we will match them by six
| OF Governor Seymour's not inferior to either
I collection in any of the requisites of statesman
like eloquence, whether it be luminous clear
ness of statement, breadth of view, sOlidity of
reasoning, sagacity, or tulness of information.
Governor Seymour has spent his whole life
in the liberal studies and pursuits which be-
fit statesman.
The notion of the Cincinnati Commercial
that Governor Seymour is an adept in man
aging a caucus and in the arts of a small poll
ticiau, will excite smile here in New York
where he is known. Such petty intrgues are
the resource of an office seeker; but Cover
nor Seymour has never sought office; offices
have always sought him. Ii does not belong
to the order of men who need office to give
them consideration. The chief advantage OF
high Office is the opportunities it affords for
influencing public opinion--the grand lever by
which the political world is moved in free
countries. Mr.. SeymOur's abilities, eloquence,
and standing give him this advantage inde-
pendently of public station. BY such man
the routine duties of Office may be reasonably
Stunned, except when the public voice de-