The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-04-28
PUBLIC LIFEIN AMERICA.
Interesting Letter from the Late VIII
Ham l.. Marcy.

f PUBLIC LIFEIN AMERICA.
tInseresting Letter frsn the Late VIII
Ham L. Marcy.
The Washington Patriot a few
days since published the following
letter, addressed by the late Hon. w,
L. Marcy to one of his intimate
friends, on the eve ofretiring from the
Office Of Governor of New York:
ALBANY, from 3lst Dec.)
/ to January l, 1880.
MY DEAR GENERAL Before this is
finished, 1 shall have passed from
public TO private life, and be in a sit
uatiOn that have not occupied for
the last eighteen years. / should be
stOical, indeed, if this transition did
not call up train of unusual thoughts.
i shall not undertake to give full de-
velOpment of them but our long and
close friendship, which / flatter my
self is to continue unchanged through
all the changing condition Ofexternal
scenes, will be my excuse, and trust
a sufficient one, for presenting you
with some of my musings Oa that
event. take leave to assure you, of
what think you know well enough
not to doubt-that the change comes
over me unaccompanied with any Sc
rious regret.
Public life is i'm some sense
a servitude, but it is usually accom-
panied with enjoyments. and these
are to most minds sufficient reward ;
but the extent of these enjoyments
depends essentially upon the charac-
ter of the recipient. Ifs public man
is endowed with good degree of
vanity, he is made happy by the res
pect his station procures him; if he
is ambitious, he is made happy by the
opportunity afforded him of crafty
ing that dominant passion if he is
anxious to extend the sphere of his
usefulness, he is made happy by the
realization of his benevolent wishes.
1 will not say that from each of these
sources have not derived some en-
Ijoyment, but If I do not misjudge of
myself, it has been less than most 9th
crs would have felt i'm my situation.
This implies an opinion that i have
less vanity and less ambition than
most other men. The indulgence of
this opinion you may regard as a re-
futatiOn of its correctness. Self-delu-
sion more readily and more cgregi-
ously crrs i'm disbelievinS the exis-
tencc of faults than ovcr-estimating
claims to merit. ALI the acquisitions
of life are generally pronounced emp
ty and unsatisfactory as soon as the
passions which attended the pursuit
of them have subsidized. ...
! Honest fame deserves to be priced
as big hly, perhaps more SO, than any
of them, and this usually accompanies,
in q greater or less degree, a man in
an elevated station, who has been
faithful to his trust, even if his capac-
ity and qualifications arc of an Ordi-
nary character. How much of it L
merit, or how much will be awarded
to me, QOr man may get more or
less than he deserves,) l will not at
tempt to settle at the risk of render
ing myself ridiculous, even 10 an init
mate friend but if i'm my free unbos-
Oming myself to yOu,I L felt liberty
to, express an opinion on that subject,
1 should be at loss to graduate it. 1
might say, perhaps, without AFRO
gance or the imputatiOn of vanity,
that have fair claim to considera-
ton for good intentions; or a dilli-
gent application Of my faculties, what
ever they are, to my public duties !;
for, having teken, at least, usual pains
to guard myself against the intrusion
Ofimproper motives of action, and to
adhere to and follow out correct prin-
ciples, or rather, such as l thought to
be correct.
I do not deny that / have had re-
gard to the interests of my party, but
L have pursued them as subordinate
and subservient to the public good.
But honesty of purpose and industry,
the only points in regard TO my claims
for public consideration upon which l
presume to venture an opinion, are
but trivial part of the materials re-
quired for the foundation of public
fame-indeed, of themselves, they do
nothing toward it. Good intentions,
without a sound judgment to give il
q proper and useful application, are
of very little worth. No ono can
earn for himself the praisewOrthy dis
tinction which deserves the name of
fame, without native talents, large
requirements, sagacity, prudence, and
a sound judgement. Many claim a
fair share of these, and those who
think they have them in an eminent
degree are the most likely to be mis-
taken. Of my own endowmonts i'm
these respects, shall only say that
l have enough of prudence and judg-
mcnt not TO indulge in even a cOnjec-
tural estimate of the share of them
that possess.
You may think that L am rather
summing up the cause
before all the facts are brought out,
but think the testimony is closed.
My Spring and Summer have passed,
and l have advanced far into the Au-
tumn of life. 1t would. be folly for
me to think of sowing seed for an
other harvest. At most, i can only
glcan little longer in the old fields.
1 neither see a prospect nor feel q de-
sire of returning again to public life.
Nor am l at all unhappy that it is so.
Begging you to make proper allow
ancc for the great difference between
myself and Sir William Temple, j
shall conclude my letter by borrow
ing the concluding paragraph, of his
memoirs, which was, L think, written
about the same period in life to which
1 have arrived:
"And so take my leave oi all those
airy visions, which have no long bus
led my head, about mending the
world; and mt the same time, of all
those shining toys or follies that em-
pIoys the thoughts of busy men, and
shall turn mine wholly to mend my
self; and, so far as consists with a
private condition, still pursuing the
old and excellent counsel of PYTIIA-
GoRAs, that we are, with all the cares
and endeavors of our lives, to aSoid
disease i'm the body, perturbatiOns i'm
the mind, luxury i'm diet, fractions in
the house, and scditions i'm the State
Yours truly,
w. l.. MARCY.
WATER POwER.-His.Ory, says the
n "a l.