New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-29
r1rfL EELENnSHLPS.

What is the proper word TO describe the
process of killing ones particular friends ! Is
it homicide or "amicidc,". or what 7 So
much of this sort of thing is being done,
especially in politics, that We really need a
name for it, Tallcyrand used to point out. as
philosophical phenomenon, that something
unpleasant always happened to any Government
which did not cOnciatc him. " lily Qucigue
a" chose iaeJpiicaJie en- moi, qui porte mdlher dUr
gourernemcRs qili NE HtgigeHL' But there is a
class of newspapers rising among Us with the
contrary power. No man can survive their
friendship, after il is once fairly brought to
bear.
There was Mr. X. II. Dana, jr., of Boston,
for instance, who really seemed to have po-
ltical future before him, until an obscure
weekly newspaper of this city took him up and
killed him oil, in the Butler Congressional cam
paign. There were all the materials for a
strong opposition to Gen. Butler. He had just
avowcd financial theories which had displcascd
his best friends. Then many dlslikcd him for
what lac had done in the war, and many more
for what lac had not done. He was not even,
it was urged, citizen Of his district, possess
ing within its limits only the Tudmcnts of
house and lands So far, so good for Mr.. Dana,
when III an unlucky hour The Nation took up
his cause, representing him as n high toned
conservative and his opponent rs pcstilcnt
radical. This was precisely what Gen. Buffers
managers wished, and from that time they had
it all their own way. The special drawbacks
of Gen. Butler, on which a shrcwder opponent
would have made the fight, were at once for
gotten. If he was TO be thrown overheard rs
too radical, so would Sumner be oustcd, so
would Boutwell,, whenever the political Bour-
bOns grew strong enough. This settled the
question. Mr.. Dana was left III q minority so
crushing that it will long paralyze his political
career, and Mr.. Butler in majority most
prejudicial to his humility of spirit. So much
for an injudciOus and fatal friendship, that
assassnatcs its own allies.
Precisely the same destructive process has
since been tried against Attorney General
IIoar, by the same class of journals, to whom
The North american Reriet0 has also supplied
spare stiletto, in the background. Mr.. Hoar
went to Washington an advanced Massachusetts,
radical. lie had always been the friend and
ally of Mr.. Boutwell, and bid fair to stand
with him in the confidence of Republicans gener-
ally. IL was no fault of his that his mistaken
friends undertook to make him out all that was
respectable and conservative, rs compared with
this dangerous and revolutionary Boutwell,.
But their support at once exposed him to sns-
picon. Mr.. Boutwell, had won the confidence
of the nation, and especially of the party which
had carried it through the war. He had been
thoroughly tested Mr.. lloar had Il certain
claim on public confidence, rs being Mr.. Bout
wells neighbor and friend. If he was to he set
up in opposition to the Secretary of the Treas
ury, the case was very different In vain the
shrewder Massachusetts papers, as The SPRING
tieM Republican, protested against this false
position assigned To Mr.. Hoar declared that
The North american Rerie,c's description of
him was wholly imaginary; that, in the Ian
guage OF Mrs. Betsey Camp, there warnt no
SIGH person as there described. The hon
0red victim would doubtless have protested
also, had ii been possible bat what could he
do7 An Attorney General cannot stand up
before the Supreme Court and say, "AIay it
please your honoIs wish to be protected
from my own admirers!" Thence followed