The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-13
THE sICKLEs TESTIMONIAL.


We suppose few intelligent persons read
the extraordinary Testimonial" sent to Gene
raj Sickles, and signed by number of PRO
minent citizens" previous to his departure
for his post in Spain, without feeling, if not
saying, that it is high time that there should
be plain, general understanding as to the
nature and extent of the relations existing in
the United States between morals and poll
tics We cherish no delusions on this sub
ject. No politician need fancy that in open
ing the subject we are going to furnish him
with laugh at our expense, by arguing from
the assumption that none but the. pure and
good should fill places of honor or profit.
What we seek, and what the community seeks,
from the class of people who signed this
SicIles testimonial, is plain answer to these
two questiOus:-
1. Would it be possible for a man TO COM
NIT any crime 50 heinous, or lead any life SO
debased, as to disqualify him for political
Office in the United States?
,. Suppose that there exists no such dis
qualification, what is your real opinion as to
the effect on social order and morality-put-
ting politics aside altogether-of public an
nouncement, such as has been made in this
Sickles case, by lawyers, editors, merchants
and philanthropists, that man of infamous
character is not only not unfit for high
public position, but is deserving of ''the per-
sonal respect and esteem and friendship of
his fellow-citizens?
Lest it should be supposed that we are in
dulging in mere defamation, with nothing
but hypothesis for our text, let us briefly
state the facts of the case. General Sickes
was-in so far as his life was concerned-up
to the outbreak of the war, a New York]politi-
clan of the lowest order, which is saying a
great deal. But in addition to this, his pri-
vate life was from early manhood down to the
same period-that is, to the age of forty-fve
or Observation-Disclosures in the literal, gene
rally accepted sense of that term. We are not
going to sully our pages by reiterating the
leading incidents in his career. 1t is sutfi-
cient to say that they are such that, to match
them in the case of public man, one has to
search not the historical literature of modern
Christendom, but the pages of Tacitus or
Suetonius. This we admit, is strong Ian
guage; but we mean it to be strong. Con-
sidered in relation to the facts, of which it is
intended to give the reader an
idea, it is mild language. Moreover,
we are not in saying this giving the
| results of mere rumor. We give a version of
| his career which we have had from men who
| knew him well in his youth and manhood,
| which hundreds in this city could confirm on
oath, which is, in part, of judicial record, and
which nobody-neither he nor those who last
week attempted to fete him-has had the
| courage to deny. In short, the year 1861
| found him man with whom men of honor
! in civilized countries do not associate and
| whom no respectable woman could meet I'M
| der any circumstances in social life. The
| war opened to him a chance of partial re-
| demption. The advice which honest men
who attach any importance to character would
| have given him when he was entering the
army was to expose himself freely, and earn
| the silence and forgetfulness of the commu-
! nifty he had lived in by an honorable death
| He served bravely, was badly wounded and
| survived the war. We have no desire and no
| occasion to underrate his military exploits.
| His mistakes or misconduct at Gettysburg can
not affect his moral character, andthe are few
| purely military errors which are not atOned for
by desperate wound But all that he
earned by his military career-all he could
| have earned by it, had it been twice as bril-
| hant--would have been, as we have said, the
| silence of the public about his past. In
| serving in the army and serving well, he did
no more than hundreds of thousands of men
of pure life and unblemished character To
| mention him in the same breath with thou
| sands who entered the service, not as a refuge
| from disgrace, but as the seal and conirma.
tion of long-cherished convictions, as the
last and noblest sacrifice to duty, would be to
insult them if living and dishonor their
memory if dead. In short all that his fight
ing entitled him to was silence and oblivion.
If it gave him a claim to anything more than
this, that claim was amply satisfied by his
receiving rapid promotion to all but the
highest military rank. This attained, a pro
per regard for decency and morality required
that he should, during the remainder of his
days, obtrude himself as little on the public
notice as possible, and that his friends should
call as little attention to his existence as was
consistent with the proper discharge of his
duties.
A portion Of the public, therefore and we
are glad to believe it is still by far the larger
portion of the p1blic-were both astonished
and shocked by his selection for the Spa.
nish mission, particularly when the rela.
tions of the two countries were in a
most delicate state. They were astonished
and shocked first, because his mill.
tary career had not been such as to entitle
him to extraordinary distinctions or to any OF
the more valuable prizes of civillife secondly
because the selection Of such man for any
high Office was nothing short of an insult to
the multtudes of men all over the country
who had served as we'll as he, and from fan
purer motives whose character was unsullied
and whose qualifications for diplomatic func
tions were at least as good. The appointment
of Sickles, in short, would have only become
legitimate when the position had been Offered
in vain to all other Americans of good charac
ter and education. AS it was, his appoint
ment was an outrage on every gentleman-w'
do not use the word in the narrow, conven
tional sense-who wore sword OF carried
musket in the war.
The appointment, however, is not the wors
of it. After seeing some of the men whom
certain constituencies send to Congress ant
place in other high offices, and whom pro
fessed radical ''moraists' pat on the back
| 1T II