St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-08-18

. AMI 10 ~ay something, also, ot the clt>
which l2d To these dcplorablc results
, undertake the task with Il heavy heart
Tor when ! revert to that terrible time
cannot help contrasting our proud r"rdi
tion up 10 that fatal year, with the hu
initiating position occupied now hy Tia,
American people. The story j. II ~hor
On. in the i,ll # 1872, Horace Gre,
leE, ri"' "I.!or Of newspaper in New
l"Ik, was elected president oi the nj
tel State. The people voted for him
hecau~' they thought he was an honest
man. And 80 he wa>. Bat hr was al-
80 van and weak, and he entertained
certain i:'nntiral and prcppstrrou- notions
about agricultural matters, for instance
WHICH lc WAS determined 10 force up
on the people ut all hazards and despite
all opposition. lie believed among 9th
Of thing, that every man ou4ht To 90 to
the West 10 earn his bread, and, Ion. be
lore lac was chosen president, lac used 10
advise everybody to move To that rc.iun,
Is a cure for all the diseases that could
beiail the human family.
~ soon as we reached the executive
mansion, which he used to call the White
House, President Greeley organized an
army of two hundred thousand men, and
prcc, cIcl 10 force the entire population
| OF the >caboar,! states westward at the
point OF the bayomct. Iha utmost vio-
Ience was used. Those who resisted
were shot down, an! their dead bodies
were carted atl 10 a national factory
which the president had established for
maxim" some Kind OF fanta>tiral iertiliz-
II. All the lar.c cities of the east were
drpopula:cd. and the towns were entire
ly empty. The army swept before ii
millions ui men, women and children,
until thr vast plain. west OF Kansas were
reached, whcn the pursuit ceased and
the army was drawn mp in Il comtinuou,
line, with orders to shoot any one who
attempted 10 visit the East. Ol course.
hundreds OF thousands Of these poor crra-
turr~ pcri,hcd from starvation. This
seemed To irighten President Greeley, and
hc sent mcs-a%r TO Congress recon-
mendin@ that seven hundred thousand
volumes OF 4 book of his. entitled, "Wlmt
| Know About Farming" should he yo-
ted for thr rrliri ot the starving sufferers
This WIS done, and farming implements
and seeds were supplied, and then the
millions OF wretchcd Ouica-tS made an
effort TO till the ground. OF the result
of thi' will speak further ON.
In the meantime the president was do
ln@ infinite harm to the country IN an
other way. lIi~ handwriting was 50
icariully and wonderfully bad tina: no
living man could read it, And 50 when
he sent his first animal message TO Con.
gre>>, the document WAS devoted Who'll
iy 10 the tariff AMI agriculture, IL SEN
tcnc' appeared which was subsequently
a>rcriaincl to he, '.lar.r cultivation of
rGtabaga and beans is the only hope of
the American patton, | am sure" The
printers, not being able TO interpret tins,
put II in the following form, in which it
went 10 the world: The ear of Rus
la couldn't keep clean it he washed him
self with the whole Atlantic ocean once
Il day. This pcrversion of the message
was Immediately tclcgraphed to Russia
hy the Russian minister, and the ear
WAS 50 indignant that he Immediately dc.
clarcd war. Just ut this time President
Greeley undertook TO write some letters |
to Prince bismarck upon ;hr subject of
potato rot. ana, alter eivin" his singu-
lar Views at @rcat length, he concluded |
with the statement that il the Emperor |
William SAID that ~ubsoil blowing was
not good in LIGHT soils, or that %uano WAS
better than bone dust, he was ~ liar, Il .
villain, and a slave" OF course, the
also Immediately declared war,
and became an ally OF RuS.ia and Of
England, against which latter country
Mr. Greeley had actually BEGUN hosliitics
already, because the queen, in her Spcccl,
from the throne, had declared the Trib-
unc's advocacy OF u tariff on pig IRON, in
rcndlary, and calculated 10 disturb the
peace of nations Inhappily this was
not the full measure of or disasters
The president had sent 10 the emperor
pt Austria Il copy Of his book "What !
Know, etc, with his autograph upon a
Ily-Ieat. The emperor mislook the sic
nature for Il caricaturc OF the Austrian
'aglr, and he readily joinc in the war
against the United States; while France
was provoked 10 the same act by the fact
That when the French minister came 10
call upon AIR. Greeley 10 present his Gre
ientlals, the president, who was writing
an editorial at the time, not c0mprchenI-
me the French language, mstook the
for Il bc9gar, and, without
looking up, handed him quarter and
an order for Il clean shirt, and said 10
him, "Go West, young man-go West :"
~ all these nations joined in making
war upon the United States. They
'woopcd down upon our coasts and land
ad without opposition, for those exposed
portions OF our unhappy country were
absolutely deserted. The president was
afraid TO call away the army from Kan
'aS at first, for fear the outraged people
upon the plains would come east in spite
Of him But at last he did summon the
army 10 his aid, and it moved to meet
the enemy. 1t was loo late. Before
the troops reached Cincinnati the foreign
rrs had seized Washington and the coun-