The New York herald., 1870-04-05
Greclcy and Morrissey--Te What Strange
Uses We May Como at Last.

Uscs we May Como at iass.
The genius of history--the power that gov
erns In the conduct Of great events-has
dramatic taste. Her ability to concentrate the
spirit Of tremendous contest in a group, to
indicate possibilities by contriving the mere
juxtaposition of remarkable men, Is what gives
all its interest," as well as its picturesque force
and effect, TO the annals of great nations. How
splendidly the very soul of the Middle Ages Is
put before us in the meeting Of Henry and
Francis on ''the field of the cloth of gold"
Convulsed, torn, shaken Europe is presented
in the brilliant picture Of Napoleon and the
Emperor Alexander exchanging civilities on
raft in river. In the meeting of Wellington
and Blucher we catch a magnificent emblem of
union of the powers that saved the noble old
ruins Of European society. On our own Con-
tinent, are not Appomatt0x and its apple tree
forever famous for their association with the
wonderful picture that comes up to every
thought of Grant and Lee shaking hands,
making treaties, and smoking the mutual cigar
over the collapse of the confederacys And
now comes one more picture into this historic
gallery. Another group, typical of the
possibilities of human strife, will attract
the eyes of ages yet unborn in
the temple Of fame. The young de-
mocracy has not struggled in vain. Its
great contest for the honor Of handling the
city cash will be historic in years after the
city cash is all spent or stolen; for the result
will have crystallzed in the startling picture
of Greeley and Morrissey with their heads
They were remarkable heads that thus came
together Heads, indeed, of strange variety
viewed in any aspect, whether moral, intellec-
tual, physical Or tonsorial. On Morrissey fate
has ''put q head" fit for Hercules, The express
sion Of which is ali hard force; on Greeley,
one that is all softness, like pippin in Decem-
Der. On Morrissey, the jetty Jove-like curls
come down to the very brows, leaving no fore
head as there was no need for any ID on
Greeley the scant hair, TO which nature in her
economy gave no color. parts away from
wild waste of forehead eloquent of brain run to
seed. Morrisseys head is indebted to art for
the greater part Of its heroic style-partly
to the art tonsorial, partly to the art that is
for pre-eminence distinguished as ''the manly
art" Greeley's head is as simple and un-
washed a piece of nature as ever came out Of
turnip field. Behold, then, the many differ
ences in the two heads; and not less different
than the heads thus brought together by the
force of events are the characters of the men
who came with them. One of them is great
moralist, who breaches without stint and with
almost savage invective the doctrines of plain,
straightforward honesty; who cannot indulge
himself with even Christian patience for rogues,
but who, with all his abstract love of honesty,
is so charmingly and eccentrically ignorant of
the ways of the world that he believes faro to
be an innocent little game that children play
in the Sunday schools He is a philosopher
who has all the true philosophic love of vir-
the in the abstract, but who does not believe
practically that it makes any difference whether
a man is honest or dishonest--does not
believe that virtue forfeits her character in
coming to terms with vice. Finally, he is
a great politician, who can be fooled to
the uses and intrigues of prize fighter
through the vanity of his personal Importance.
Does it, then, in our American society,
really make no difference what mans pur
suits are, or what his character is? Is our
democracy 80 indiscriminate in it's levelling
that there is not only no difference before the
law, but no difference in any other respect?
Does a man who has all his life inculcated the
lessons of virtue, and made some generally
crotchety attempts to live up to those lessons,
really stand at last on the same level with
those who, without morality, with small intel
lect and no conscience, have brutalized their
early days in barbarous personal battles and
debauched their later lives in the wild excite
ment and general robbery of the gambling
hell? Is this the state of our society? Or
is the practical assertion that this is the state
of our society only another one of the vaga-
ries of the philosopher Greeley? Once we
remember the great advocate of ''On to Rich
mond" energy went up to Niagara to plot
peace with the rebels, who were eager only to
save Richmond from the Union forces, and
used this natural innocent to help them. Also
we remember an earnest patriot who saw no
man in the world more worthy his friendship
than JEFF Davis. Is it to be understood now
that Greeley's relations with Morrissey are of
piece with these other vagaries and betrayal
of popular trust2 Is Greeley, as virtuous
philosopher, at last as unreliable in his fidelity
to honesty and the moralities as he was
shaky, lax, crotchety and uncertain in the
cause of the Union?
| AN APRIL Snow SToRM.-April, this time,
seems to have taken up the work of winter
left unfinished by March, and with good will
to supply all that is left to be supplied Of the
deficiencies Of December, January and Feb
ruary. The snow storm of yesterday would
have done honor to December, January or
February, but was rather an extraordinary
accompaniment of the Connecticut April cleo
ton. We suppose now that the winter is
| n,,& 1o4E e.