Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-10-03

If is doing Mr.. Greeley no lnJustlce TO
COW, that with all his fussiness and indie
fafipability he has never seriously stud
ioJ ANYTHING, and that his opinions, on
noIifical questions especially, have al
most always been hastily and thought
inssly formed. The consequence which
has been attached to these opinions IS
chiefly due to the fact that tor many
years he has been the most prominent
Indicator of political meteorOlogy ID this
country. Whenever there has been a
GREAT popular cOmmOtiOn, he has been
| shouting in the front whenever the pub
lie mind has been aglOw with a new idea
or new cOnceit, the editorial columns
of the TriJlL9e have been at the point OF
incandesCencc.
To those who bear these facts inmind,
Mr.. Grecley's peculiarities-his intellec-
tuaI giddiness and extravaganza, his po-
litical ouackery and vulgar faith in leg
islativc speciffcs for all the ills OF So
ciety. his dogmatism, his intolerance OF
dissent. the incompetence Of his Ian.
ouaoe. ctc..-are no mystery. One or
his IRREGULARITIES is worthy OF special
mnnfiOn-his adherence of systematic
knowledge He has a standing grudge
AGAINST the multiplication table and the
first book of Euclid, He is the personal
enemy of the logical rule respecting the
distribution of the middle term, and |
make no doubt that he charges it with
Inherent villainy whenever he is alone in
the woods at ChappaQua, beyond the
supervision and control of the politicians
who see to it of late that he does not
speak his mind on certain things within
hearing of his enemies. He is sincerely
of the opinion that the axiom according
to which action and reaction are equal
and cOntrary-a principle which has an
application to other things than me-
chanics-is in the pay Of English capt
talists. He has a form of syllogistic
reasoning enti' ely his own, his syll0gism
consisting of a broad assertion of the
thing to be proved as the major premise,
a ringing imprecatiOn as the minor, and
a bold charge Of venaIity or idiocy
against his antagOnistic as the concu-
sion.
have already said that Mr.. Greeley
is a philosopher: his latest surname, |
believe, is the Sage of Chappaqua.
His title to the distinction rests not only
on his omniscicnce and y0lubiIity, but
also on certain dOgmatic brcyities which
| his admirers nave lately been at pains to
collect One of these is the well-knOWn
| dictum "Ihe true way to the reSump-
| ton of specie payment is to resume,
which is Il short refutatiOn of the com
mon delusion that to pay a debt you
must have something to do with it. An
other of his pithy sayings is: $50 West
! and take a farm. an admOnitiOn adj
| dressed to those who flock to the cities
| for rcmuneratiVe employment IN some
| branch Of ''diycrsiticd industry. after
he has helped to saddle the farmer with
all the burdens Of the protective system.
His most pregnant apothcgm, perhaps.
is the famous ''ROot, hog, or die, "
which, however has no application to
| the Pennsylvania iron master.
There has been much discussion Ot
! late as to Mr.. Greclcy's honesty. the
doubts respecting it arising chiefly from
| his associations. No one, | presume
suspects him Of any covctinr Of his
neighhOrs chickens. or of lis purse. But
| persons of his peculiar mental coustitu-
! ton are rarely without crook i'm their
moral nature. and Mr. Greeley is not IN
exception to the rule. The character of
his mtrigues shows that it did not re-
quire much bending to make him a sue.
cessful New York politician. Ii is Ger
tain he lacks one of the highest attrih-
utes of honesty the habit Of saving
what he means. and meaning what hr
says. If he had possessed this tribute.
| he would never have signed and PUBLISH
ed the letter I have referred TO, Wherein
he expressed his concurrence in thrprin-
| CiDc9 of the Missouri declaration. Oupoi