The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-04-19
Deplorabpe Fluukeyisln.

If we understand anything of Senator Fes-
ssnden's temper the Advertiser Will hear from
him when he gets home, in such manner as
will not please that journal. His bitterest foe
would hardly deny that the Senator is a manly
man, with healthy feelings and proper intel
lectual balance Accordingly he will be pref
ty likely to discipline our obsequIous neighbor,
as he well knows how to do, for assuming that
he is one of the most pitifully vain ana weak
public men in America-One who demands OF
his friends slavish adulation and an unlnier-
rupted chant of praise and glorihcation. He
will ask our contemporary to "eat the leek,
and it will be swallowed with many protesta-
tions of satisfaction and content. The occa-
sion for the merited chastisement will be the
fact that the Advertiser availed itself of an
opportunity it imagined was afforded by an ar
ticle on the fate of conservative Republicans
printed in these columns, to throw itself at his
feet, warning him of the devilish malignity
and dangerous conspiraces of his foes, assur-
ing him of its loyal devotion to his person,
and, in short, crouching like an Oriental slave
in the dust. There might have been some
thing said in excavation of such voluntary
abasement, if we had attacked Mr. Fessenden
The article was published in the Press of
Thursday, April 18th. If anyone should think
it worth while, let the article be carefully read
let some one with taste for curious specu-
lation and reconcile studies obtain optical in
struments of the highest magnifying power
known to modern science, and see if he can
discover anywhere the name of Mr.. Fessen-
den. Next let him see if he can find any di-
rect allusion to Mr.. Fessenden-then If he can
discover any covert allusion to Mr.. Fessenden;
finally, bringing all there sources of science and
al the powers OF highly trained Intellect to
bear upon the single point, let him see if there
is anything in the obnoxious article that can
by any POSSIBILITY be construed into the remot-
est suggestion of an allusion to Mr.. Fessen-
den There could be but one result The
dream of the shadow of a faint ghost of the
Senator from Maine could not be found Yet
with this article for text the Advertiser
agonizes through more than column on its
knees, interposing meanwhile its paper shield
between the phantom of its imagination and
danger.
Bat the matter is easily explained. The
highly electrical condition of the atmosphere
fer the past few nights, and notably on Thurs
day and Friday, had tendency to produce alb
normal mental states. If there is any predis-
position to insanity, any eccentric intellectual
characteristic, any tendency to nonomania,
these unfortunate traits Immediately assume
exaggerated proporticnss No doubt the
northern lights famed far and wide that fa-
nous night when the melancholy Dane first
saw the phantom of his sire. Twas but an
illusion--a Pigment of the mind. So IL the
Advertiser apparition. 1t has no real exist
encc, but is purely a subjective creation-a
Hamletis cleasly cass in point:
Hamset-My father, meth inks see my father.
Aoratio-Where, my lord?
Hamlet-IB my minds eye HorGtio.
So much we have to say in vindcation of
Senator Fessenden, and in depreciation of our
neighbor's attempt to place him in a false and
unworthy light. He has far less to fear from
his so-called enemies than from the indiscre-
tions of his sslf-constituted champions There
is a selfish purpose clearly discernible in all
thiS adulation which the object of it will see
and appreciate.
Drowning men catch at straws The Adyer-
tiser catches at every straw within its REACH
but steadily sinks nevertheless. Then it
catches at imaginary straws, sacrificing princi
pie, honesty and patriotism in its desperation.
If there were principle instead of self-seeking
at the bottom of its hair-splitting, its captious
ness and chronic irritability, it would be enti-
tled to charitable consideration. But its mo-
tives are too obvious.