The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-23
MIR. stephens as sable Editor"

An actress, q cantatrice, a %danseuse, in
the decline OF life, miss keenly the applause
which was once the very breath Of their exist
ence. Great beauties, great generals, great
statesmen, come under the same category;
Life is sweet, power Unpleasant, applause is
delicious. aOi all delights, the hardest to
forego is appreciation. Yet this, in common
with all earthly joys and honors, must sooner
or later be abandoned. He alone is truly
wise who knows when to recognize the
decay OF his powers Of mind and body, and
how gracefully and submissively to cease
the struggle for influence which can never
be regained.
1t would be not more unjust aud .unkind
than untrue to say that the intellectual pow
ers of Hon. A. a. Stephens have shared the
iesbleuess OF his frame. That frame was
never strong; those powers never shone to
better advantage than in the ''History OF
sthe Wal between the States" But Mr..
Stephens's best friends must regret that he
has chosen, so late in lie and at 30 critical
a period, to play the role of what Carlyle
calls the Able Editor. An able editor he
will be beyond all doubt, but we can tell
him that the Office, just now, is one OF little
profit, less honor and still less usefulness.
In the South, material wants ore too press
ing to allow that leisure and that ease OF
mind which constitute what Mr.. Douglas
would call ssthe fundamental condition pre-
'.cedent" to profitable and useful reading.
The most weighty and elaborate articles
make but q transient impression upon minds
already full to the brim with cares. But If
this were not 80, If the South we're as pros
porous materially as she was in her prime,
Mr.. Stephens might well hesitate to attempt
a kind OF work for which he is unified, as
well by the cast of his intellect as by the
training to which it has been subjected.
Two-column leaders about 'Jefersonian
"principles" belong to the age OF the Fede-
raliss, or at latest to the days OF Gales &
Seaton and Father Ritehie. They are out OF
place now in a newspaper. The time has
passed by. Men do not read them. They
are too busy about bread and meat. To fail
as on editor-to offend and worry his read
ers, instead of instructipg them-sursly this
is not what Mr.. Stephens, at his advanced
age, desires. Yet this, We fear, is what is in
store for him. .
He has no new fact, no new principles to
add to those already laid down in his really
valuable book. Suppose he has, or fancies
he has, some e method OF enforcing those
principles? his readers will be confined
mainly to his own State. CONVINCED already
of his principles, and powerless to act upon
bis suggestions as to the mode OF enforcing
those principles, what are they to do? Cui
bono, the newspaper? 1t will have scarcely
more than a bakers dozen Of readers north
of the Potomac, where alone a newspaper,
to be Of real service at this day, ought to
have a large circulation. There the teach
ings of his book are doing their work silent
ly, and there that work will be completed in
time. For the present, Mr.. Stephens might
well be content to keep out Of an arena
where Greeley is successful: and Forney
famous. =.