The New York herald., 1872-09-20
Partasan Vituperstion Rebuked from
n an Unusual Quarter.

Partassn vitupcration Rebuked from
an Unusual Quarter.
It can scarcely be credited, but such is the
fAct-a man welded and welded to the poetic
muse has felt himself obliged to leave his rosy
couch on Mount Parnassus, and, coming down
to the miry earth Of politics, rebuke some of
the partisan speakers and journalists of the
day. 1t is the amiable and tender-hearted
d Quaker poet Of Amesbury, John Greenleaf
Whittier, who has considered it his conscien-
tious duty to do this, and instead of singing
in his pleasant Birthday lines
q tl. How hushed the hiss Of party hate,
The clamor Of the thrOngi &
g 2 How old, harsh voices Of debate 7
Flow into rhythmic song-
TO write to his colored friends letter, in
the course of which he says:-os
a No colored man with any selfrespect or sense of
abuse Of such men as Horace Greeley Charles
sumner, Henry Wilson or Salmon p. Chase. They
- thing.
Again "'-'''.'.... 'a'o'
lam panied by the bitter personalities Of the
canvass on both sides am sorry to see such a
low % and c vulgar % song as that from the Brooklyn
should condemn such weak and bitter abuse of q
man that he has good reason to respect. eI
But what respect has o partisan journalist
for an opponent in political contest, as such
'7 contests are conducted in these latter days?
! Instead Of argument coarse vituperation is
the weapon employed to carry point, and in
s defence the assailed has to reply in kind, just
as the Chinese fight their battles by casting
vessels of nameless odor into the ranks of
their enemies. The 'hiss of party hate
seems, alas to be growing more and more
venomous as we proceed in our political career
aside from our own, writer's from abroad come
among us, and, settling themselves in some
easy editorial chair, dip their pens in gall and
illuminate the most atrocious epithets against
their contemporaries Why is this? How is
It that writers who in their own country,
would scarcely descend to SO low, and des-
picable level in discussing public men
and measures seem to find here a
scongenial soil in which to plant their seeds Of
bitterness ? And why is it that our own writers
still cling to that era of journalism which rec
ognized in vituperation and Billingsgate the
only road to journalistic preferment? Is it,
to re-quote our Amesbury poetic friend, to
please ''the clamor of the throng?" That
might do for the hustings but it is not calcu-
lated for the editorial sanctum. It might dc
for the ''old, harsh voices Of debate" but not
for the calm and philosophic editorial closet.
In brief, the partisan press and the partisan
FORUM and the men who conduct the partisan
press, as well as the men who occupy the par.
tisan forum, stand in this day and generation
sadly in need of good, wholesome advice, un.
less their object be to bring into disgrace
republican institutions and to make the nation
reproach among the decent and substantial
governments of the civilized world. Friend
Whittier is entitled to the thanks of the re-
spectacle people of the country for his
timely rebuke to these coarse lampooners of thu
most honored and honorable statesmen in thu
GREAT repI1tlic t4.f.a