New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-04-04

against the cause of justice and liberty.
The Errors Of Superior Men.
Among the numberless errors and illusions
men are subject to, those of the gifted, SUI
perior, and prominent form distinct branch
from those of the inferior and obscure, and,
it need not be told, are great deal more
hurtful in their consequences to themselves,
their surroundings, and to others generally.
Although this applies to all spheres, it be-
comes most forcibly evident in political life.
When man of inferior intellect, without in
fiuence and position conceives exaggerated
notions of his own gifts, his importance and
his claims to the recognition of the world, he
will either be ridiculed or reminded in not
over tender manner, that he has assumed too
much; that he will do better to stay in his
own sphere in the future, and unless he
is hopelessly besotted, he will soon be COM
PEELED to give up his illusions. On the con-
trary, let a man of recognized ability and
prominence once be carried away by err
roneOus notions, or under the instigations of
ambition and love of power embrace bad
cause, hardly the most signal reverses will
sometimes prove strong enough to dispel the
binding fog. He will neither lack friends
and followers, who, under the fascination
that every man of superior genius exercises
over his surroundings, will cling to him in his
perverse course and confirm him in it. Others,
not sincerely deluded, but who are pursuing
interests Of their own, which they have no
prospect of promoting in the regular way,
will join them, and thus cliques and factions
are formed, the members of which easily
working each other into exaggerated ideas of
their'own merits and their own power, will
intrigue and labor for the realization of
schemes whose success is directly recognized
as impossible by any outsider of average COM
mon sense who follows his own judgment,
unbiased by predictions, prejudices, or
selfish motives. Such a clique had formed
around ANDREW JOHNSON, and it was Mr..
SEwARD's love of power, and an illusory
notion of his influence that led him to sustain
the traitor against the overwhelming Repub-
lican majority of the people. His infatuation
proved most fatal to himself, for it put an in
glorious end to his public career, while, if he
had followed the noble and manly course of
STANTON, rich field of activity would have
remained open to him.
Among all the temptations which have proven
stumbling blocks to the political virtue and
to the sound judgment of superior men, there
is none to which SO many have fallen victims
as the Presidency. This in itselfquite legiti-
mate ambition will frequently degenerate into
a kind of monomania. As soon as man, con-
scious of his superiority, begins to feel him
self qualified for that high position, he will
easily convince himself and his followers that
chances and probabilities are in his favor,
without perceiving the odds with which he
has to contend, though the average common
sense of the impartial outsider may
perceive them very plainly. If conces-
sions and compromises are deemed neces-
sary he will hardly be proof against
the temptation, and make concessions
and compromise until he has left nothing to
compromise away, only to discover in the
end that he has sacrificed all for nothing.
Mr.. CHASE is one of the victims of the Presi-
dental mania. For many years he had been
aspiring to receive the Republican nonina-
ton, and certainly with fair prospects of sue
cess, if it had not been for the military glory
Of General GRANT, who, coming almost fresh
from victories, through which he had secured
the integrity Of the Republic, had been de-
clared the choice of the people in advance of
the formal nomination. TWAS in those DAYS
that Mr.. CHASE, perceiving the fruitlessness
OF any effort to compete with such rival,
sacrificed principle to ambition, and began
operations for the object Of receiving the
fore his eyes, he worked against the impeach-
ment of ANDREW JOHNSON, and in the
twelfth hour, renowned the principle of
equal suffrage by his famous declaration that
this question might be left to the decision of
the States, only to be passed over by the
Democrats, and to forfeit forever the conf
dence of all true Republicans. Again, the
average common sense would have antici.
pated this result, and suggested that the
Democrats, not less infatuated and greatly
overating their strength, would on no &C.
count accept renegade Republican, when
there were so many available men who had
never swerved an inch from the true ortho-
dox Democratic doctrine ofthe White Mans
Government" 1t would further have sug-
gested that whoever the man that received
the sterile honor of the Democratic nomina-
ton in opposition to General GRANT would
have to content himself with that honor,
good enough for man who had not sacri-
need anything for it, but rather unsatisfac-
tory for one who had compromised away the
fair record of many years.
1t is truly painful to see to-day another
excellent man victim to the same infatua-
tion-namely, Mr.. HORACE GREELEY. We
shall never forget the glorious services which
he has rendered to the cause of liberty and
equal rights; we know, moreover, that his
heart still beats for the old cause, but the