The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-22
GRANT AND GREELEY

are a people with whom it is in vain to
reason.
GRANT AND GREELEY.
From the ~ Y. World.
Mr.. Horace Greeley's remarks in Tuesdays
Tribune, upon finally finding that the Pres.
dent was not minded to give him apv office
form one of the most mournful and lugubrious
attempts at jollity which the melancholy mind
OF man ever gave vent to. The Mark Tapley of
fiction cheering himself in the wreck of matter
at Eden, and bearing up against the unholy
tricks of Scadder, is a spectacle upon which
the humane mind may find a certain satisfac-
tion in dwelling; but the Doctor Johnson of
history "oracking his Jokes and cursing the
sun" is one from which even pity must turn
repelled. And it is much more in the latter
guise than in the former that the versatile phi
losopher OF the Tribune represents himself to
us. Indeed, If we take away from the lexi-
cogrspher his wit, his wisdom, and his
learning, the residuum presents some
points which have a striking resemblance
to the character of II. G.. But although DIR.
Johnson has recorded in the most pathetic
OF his productions, how he endured to
dance attendance upon the coucheeS and
to be shouldered by the lackeys of Chester
field, he at least had the grace to withdraw
after months of fruitless suit, and when he
perceived himself to have exhausted call the
powers OF pleasing that a retired and un-
courtly scholar can command" And, more
over, he had not the dish 9nesty to dissemble
how sorely he was hurt. But II. G. has
notoriously wooed President after President
and exercised all the wiles of ''retired and
uncourtly" journalist upon a series of politi-
cal mistresses, who, agreeing in nothing else,
have nevertheless agreed in rejecting him.
And, having so far and so often forgotten his
high calling, H. G. comes before us now with
the air of an undertaker's mute off duty, and
Il IL.
the contortions of his benevolent features
under torture are the unforced smiles of hila-
rious Joy.
''Though he'-Greeley relates of Greeley-"has
twice cOnversed freely with the President respecting
certain meditated appointments word hint
dropped on either side which imported that he
was or suggested that he might be himself appointed
to any post whatever
Conjecture is bafied in the endeavor to re-
call what may have been the conversation of
these two great men. What Establishments
can II. g. have employed to win the heart of
Grant withal? One can fancy him wandering
from politics to poultry, and from the tariff to
the strawberry patch without touching re-
sponsive chord in the bosom of Grant or
awakening glesm of intelligence in his pis-
cine eye. And the ignorance OF the philosopher
upon those subjects which engage the pro-
found mind of the President is, if possible,
more marked than his ignorance upon things
in general. He knows nothing to speak of of
horsefesb, and nothing whatever of the pups
of Marshal Brown or of other men. His little
mplishments in the way of dancing and
dressing are not such as to commend him to a
functionary who cares for neither. Worst of
all, it does not appear that he ever gave Grant
| anythng-except some political services,
which were all the more meritorious in pro-
portion as they were distasteful, but which
are the one sort of gifts for which Grant has
evinced no gratitude. 1t is not surprising,
| Al Al, GG,,n dnrh int
from the President at least about the pro-
priety of bestowing an office upon an FL. 6.
who came to him thus uncoDgenial and thus
empty handed.
But it is none the less fatal to Mr.. Greeley
as journalist and to the profession of jour
nalism in general that Mr.. Greeley as an indi-
yidual should even incur the imputation,
which he takes pains in his forced mirth not
to repel, of seeking Federal office. He en-
deayors to fortify himself with the name Of
Franklin, who undoubtedly held Office, and
who also undoubtedly owned and edited, with
such editing as was then called for, news
paper OF the period. But Mr.. Greeley will not
undertake to say that journalism in Frank
Inns time was thing even analogous 10 the
journal may now be great power,
but its power depends not only, upon
the ability with which it is conducted,
but upon the readers belief In the
entire disinterestedness of the man who con-
ducts it. OF course this belief cannot
survive the spectacle of an editor running
about, or even being thought to run about,
after an Office for himself. The quld pro quo
which he can give for it is only OF one kind
The Office must be a reward for services past,
or a payment in advance for services TO come
That is to say, the public good must be pur-
sued by him only so far as it does not connict
with the political interests of the party or the
person to whom he owes his place. The case
is similar to that which the law that excluded
Mr.. Stewart from the Treasury was lrameu W
meet. 1t was feared by the wise man VINO
drew up that prohibition that merohanS
who was also a public othcer Woulo 10
tempted to administer his Office with an eye
to his mercantile interests. In this case, the
danger is that an officer or an otiice-seeKer
who is also journalist will be tempted 10
manage his journal with an eye to the gettng
or the keeping of his office. BY how much II
/ is more important that people should not Dt
lied to or msled by their political teacner'
than that they should not be robbed by thell
} political agents, by so much this latter danger
is more to be guarded against than the other
1t is lamentable that a journalist should no
see it to be danger at all, and should hold b
low an opinion of his readers as to beneV
that his weight with them would not be los
sened by his refusal to disavow, as Mr. dreeie
has refused to disavow, aspirations Tor pupll
Office for himself.
3 B0RIK.
From the ~ Y. World.
. Porter's man Borie, who has very little