The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-12-29

Colorado Jewett to George Francis Train
ON Irish Freedom and Other Things.
We publish in another column one of the
grandest and finest propositions ever laid
before the world. 1t Is in the form of a letter
from Cornell Jewett sometimes loosely called
Colorado Jewett, to George Francis Train, of
Ireland and Omaha, sometimes called Zone Of
the greatest asses that ever lived" Whether
man is or is not an ass is of course matter
OF opinion among his friends and foes and the
indifferent public. Perhaps just view of the
nature of the ass might establish that to be an
ass, humanity speaking, is not SO bad as people
fancy. The ass is not tippler, and this is a
great virtue. He is not high feeder. Neither
guzzler nor gourmand, he is content with
simple meal of herbs and drink of plain
water, and from the time of Pythagoras all the
philosophers have agreed that these personal
habits were the bases of all individual excel
lence and greatness. Train possesses these
virtues in common with the ass, and so does
Jewett. We therefore assent to and accept the
view of those who pronounce Train zone of the
greatest Of asses'-only we insist that Jewett
shall be taken into the classification, and that
it shall be acknowledged and recognized on all
hands there are two asses equally great.
Colorado's proposition to George Francis
is, first that George Francis shall prove him
self a patriot This is good idea, and Colo
RADIO, like truly great thinker, thus suddenly
opens our eyes to the fact, of which we had
quite lost sight, that Train has never done
this thing. Did he ever raise regiment
during the war? We forget. Did he properly
denounce the men who fired on Fort Sumter?
Did he enlist as private in his own regiment
and turn up in Congress on the day of the first
battle? He did none of these things, and
therefore the facts are against him on patriot
ism-at least on proving it. He has lain in a
British JAIL and that is something if he wants
to run for Congress in an Irish district, but
nothing to Jewett's purpose. Jewett's plan is
that Train shall prove his patriotism in this
definite way-by joining in vigorous CAM
paign, from Maine to Alaska, in behalf of q
national reform party the ultimate conse-
quence held in view being the legitimate gift
of freedom to Ireland through the extension
of American principles to the whole world by
way of Behring Strait and the Northwest
passage.
We cannot say that we exactly understand
this proposition, but it is q very grand one.
We are sure of that for we know the author.
It comes, as we said, from Colorado Jewett,
one of the two greatest worthless on this CONT
nent, considering the one as the type of all wor-
thies. 1t would bea good thing for the coun-
try debating societies to discuss the point of pre-
eminence between these worthes-frst, as to
the virtues of the ass, and, second, as to which
is the greater ass of these two. We commend
Jewett's proposition to Train but at the same
time we warn him to be on his guard against
Jewett. In fact, there are some points in
Colorado's note that point to a suspicion Of
improper motives. Could we suppose that he
was capable Of keeping to himself any impress
sion made upon his mind we might fancy that
this letter was instigated by a secret envy of
the fame and greatness Of Train and fear lest
he should monopolize all the applause the
world has to spare-that the letter was, in fact,
meant to be suggestion to the people not to
forget in their admiration of George Francis
that Colorado still lives. Again, what does
Jewett mean by endeavoring to dissuade Train
from smashing the British government to pieces2
We are not sure but that there is British
gold in this. Jewetts attempt to switch Train
off implies that he has been bought. So does
his thinly covered sheer at the Fenians, whom
he calls ''fathers," as If he would imply that
they are not ''brothers," as they say they are.
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