The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-08


faith by reeanting his recsntation and holding
firmly in the flames the hand which had
offended by writing it. The friehtful picture
which Oranmer's death has painted on the
open page of history teaches us lesson of
human nature and leads us to expect repe-
tition of the scene, either iu the tragic or
comic vein, whenever similar circumstances
again occur, and, so far as the comedy has
been played out we have in the Porter and
Grant farce an exact parallel to the Cranmer
tragedy
When Porter was a Rear-Admiral and
Grant General, Porter wrote a letter ex-
pressing his honest and contemptuous OPT
Mons of Grant In the course of time Grant
has become President, with power to confer
upon Porter the much-coveted Office of Ad-
miral and had already taken the first step
towards it-only awaiting the. assemblage of
the Senate to nominate him for confirm alton.
At this critical juncture Porters letter of six
years ago came out and Grants vengeance
was aroused. The fires were lighted for Por-
ter, and he is to be brought to the stake by
the refusal of Grant to nominate him as Ad-
miral. Like Cranmer of old, Porter has ba-
lanced the relative miseries of public recan-
tation against the agony of public withdrawal
of his name as Admiral, and, as in the case of
the archbishop, the love of the good things
of this life has conquered the fear of the con-
tempt of the world, and he has recanted-re-
canted with a depth of establishment far
lower than his wretched prototype ever
reached. 1t is difficult to comprehend the
spirit which could indite such words as these:
II do not write for the purpose of exone-
rating myself, for 1 would rather be the
writer of the letter than its publisher" 1t is
almost impossible to suppose that such a
man could find consolation in the reflection
that there was at least some meaner man
than himself; and when we examine the rela-
tive claims to meanness, it is by no means
certain that Porter is entitled to draw
consolation from the comparison. True it
is that some one has betrayed an
implied confidence in publishing a letter
which he might have supposed its writer did
not intend for public circulation; but what
has Porter done He assures the President
in his present letter that the former one con-
tanned sentiments | know / never felt and
which are so at variance with those that |
have uniformly expressed towards YOU"
He recollects well enough that he never en-
tertained the sentiments expressed in his
letter, while he admits that he wrote it.
If this be true, the offense he COM
mitted was a gross libel upon a man of
whom he honestly entertained favorable
opinions; and In our Judgment this is
a graver wrong both to society and to
persons than the publication of an official let
ter in which no mi JUNCTION of secrecy was
contained. If the situation of the parties
were reversed and the Admiral had published
such q letter written by another, we think
that he would have reversed his comparative
estimate of the meanness of the respective
actors, and assure the President that the
author of dishonest libel was infinitely more
despicable than the publisher of it to the
world. But we do not wish to insist too
strongly on our view, feeling that between
two such acts there is room for an honest
difference of opinion, and that either of the
actors might conscientiousy derive some sat-
isfaction from supposing the other to be the
meaner.
Leaving Porter and his rival to settle their
respective claims to turpitude, we turn to the
President. If we are TO believe the Vice-Ad-
miral, Grant has assured him that the publi-
cation Of the Fort Fisher letter has "made
him lose his faith in human nature" There
is refreshing simplicity about this which
forcibly recalls Sancho Panza when he had
accidentally become governor. Surrounded
as he is by sycophants, who are not ashamed
to lick the dust at his feet for the favors he
has to confer, Grant supposes that his own
virtues and merits deserve and command the
adulation, and does not for moment sus-
pect the motive to be ''that thrift may follow
fawning." Ignorant alike of politics,
of history, and of human nature,
Grant forgets the dreary years of his
life when, having descended from the high
estate of graduate from West Point, he had
sunk so low in his own and in public estima-
tion as to find no better employment than
peddling cord-wood for corn whisky in st.
Louis, or serving as clerk in a lanyard in
Illinois for seven hundred dollars a year,
where, amid the delicious odor of such a
place, Porter would never have ventured to
seek or fawn upon him, and where no fiat
terers could be found more courtly than the
Doors VINO brought in the savory skins or the
loads of tan-bark for sale; and when he acci-
| dentally discovers that some one among his
| followers once had poor opinion of him and
| set it down on paper, he is struck with asto-
nishment and forthwith 'loses his faith in
human nature" He had better have kept it
| to lose when the Admiral disavowed his clever
| portrait painting.
| Thus far the parsllel between Cranmer and
| Porter's case has run only to the point where
the prelate had recanted, and was Watching
the effect of his deed upon "Bloody Mary.
| Cranmer had prepared for either event, and
had in his bosom q recantation of his recan-
tstion, ready for use in case the vengeance
of the offended powers were Unsuitable.
Porter is now waiting to see whether Grant
will be satisfied with his present humiliation,
or whether his vengeance will only be- gorged
by frustrating his victims fondest hopes.
If the President should initiate 'Bloody
Mary" in this particular, we shall hope no
less of the gallant tar than that he will produce
| from his bosom a recantation of his recanta
ton, and with his dying hopes declare that
Grant is an imbecile and that he always
knew it.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
From the N. Y. Sun.
L - IL 60 IL.