Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-11-03
A STATESMAN


the story Of tho headless hen is credible
in their experience. A statesman is a
desideratum in the matter Of govern
ment F; but a party which did not get so
much Of Pierce as to prevent its cleo
ton Of Buchanan to succeed him, and
which takes to Andrew johnson Us nat.
urally "a a duck takes to water, has
shown that it is possible 10 keep up its
organization without the extraneous eff
forts of u statesman. Still the demand
for a statesman, though coming rather
late in life, shows that there may be ia
balm in Gilead" for the woes of the
Democratic party.
But what sort Of a statesman do they
want? And what is craftsmanship in
the Democratic estimate? Difficult
question to answer, indeed. People
have grown careless of speech, and have
called things by their wrong names so
long that we suspect that just what con-
stitutes u statesman is a matter in con-
troversy. We are certain that Wash
ington, Franklin, the Adamses, the
Pinckneys, the Morrises, jay, Sherman,
and Hamilton were statesman, differing
somewhat in degree Of excellence. But
hundreds will declare that Jefferson
was q statesman par excellence to
which we shall reply that the originator
of the doctrine of State Rights could
not have been q statesman in the best
sense Of the word. Others will point to
Calhoun as a statesman +; but VIC can
not see how a man who declared prop
erty in man both natural and necessary
can be rated rs q statesman. Webster
was, like Calhoun, a great intellect,
but he, too, failed to impress himself
upon the legislation of his time.
Clay, idolized by the people, approached
nearer to the mark but he mistook
compromise for the establishment Of o
fixed order Of things. Benton must 60
With Webster, Calhoun and Clay-iu-
tellectual giants who surprised and de-
lighted, but did not shape the nation.
Jackson, not the intellectual peer Of the
giants just mentioned, had the elements
Of craftsmanship without much knowl-
edge Of what is called statecraft. But
Of all the leaders Of modern times, his
tory will give Lincoln the highest place.
He studied the wants Of the masses,
was strictly honest, scorned the mean
ness of political struggles, dared to do
the right, and trusted in the Almighty
as q dutiful and we'll trained child
trusts in his father and mother. He
had wisdom without craft, and aspira-
ton without ambition.
The common idea Of q statesman is
far from just and true. A great lawyer
passes very readily among pa%rtisans as
a great statesman. Nothing can be set up
as a test which will break down of,ener
than legal attachments. Some of the
best rulers the world ever saw never
saw q code Of laws like our own, ms to
system and completeness. A mere law
yer, however able as such, is never q
statesman. Statesmen are such by
mere intuition. Mere lawyers lean upon
their knowledge of laws in general.
They are, therefore, technical from ne
cessity. They have no munitions, or do
not trust them, if they have any. You
shall find lawyers in plenty, but Of
statesmen, very few, in either the Old
World or the New. With all the abuse
which has been heaped upon Louis Ma
poleon, at home and abroad, as tricky
as he is, he has given France such ex-
emption from turbulence as that u
try had not enjoyed for many centuries
before this time. This man knew the
French people as q wise man knows his
own children /; and with all his faults,
he has proved himself wiser than either
the Bourbon or Napoleon l. If he is not
a statesman, then there is o in
Europe.
But the want of the Democracy must
not be passed over in silence. As they
have no statesmen Of their own, and
as no statesman would consent to Garry
the lumbejng record Of that party, the
Republicans now come forward and prof
fer the country the services Of the great
est captain Of the age, whose character
contains all the elements which 60 to
make up the statesman. Tho Republic
can party puts him forward not as a
partisan, but as a statesman, whose
wisdom and u~prightness is to solve the
problem Of popular government, and
give US peace and rehabilitated Union.
No portion Of the American people can
afford to deny to General Grant possess
sion of the highest order Of military
genius. Or, if any portion, blinded
by ignorance and partisan heat,
do deny this excellence to him,
the Old World judg es of such
matters will correct the tainted verdict.
Grant is confsssedly The captain of the
age, not by the partial verdict Of Re-
publicans, but by universal assent in
the world influenced by the strifes which
distract this Republic. What then ?
This military genius is the highest order
of genius. 1t includes all other wis
dom touching the practical manage
ment of men and nations. The ignor-
ant and the envious censured the slow
progress of the Wal for independence ;
but the result proved Washington to
have been wiser than his censors.
| When CORVALLIS gave up his sword at