The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-07-06
One Bond of Union.
FROM the New Orleans Times

1t matters not how many pectrliarities
a man may have, nay, how very full Of
rasping angles these specialties may be,
vet If his philanthropy is broad and well
defined, and enters into the actions of
his daily life it secures him degree of
consideration which nothing can impair.
Is not this fact sUbstantiated by the
manner in which the name of Horace
Greeley has been received by the Amer
lean people? His queer crotchets have
awakened Q broad grin from Maine to
California His ispolitical, philosophical
and social theories have been received
by hoWls of derision. The man himself,
simple hammered, awkward, gullible,
and carelessly duped, has been a figure
OF fun, and caricatured out of even the
semblance of himself.
But the great, broad strata of humanity
Which underlies all these peculiarities is
| quite strong enough to bear him up to
| the tOpmost height of popular favor,
when III the simple questions of honesty
| and dishonesty lie the ruin or salvation
of a whole people.
1t is not often in the history Of a ma
| ton that a crisis occurs which no state
craft can tide over, aud where downright
truthfulnees, which seeks and asks no
| evasion, Is the only saving element. The
ahalrs of nation generally get onpretty
| well when the wheels within the wheels
are sufficiently well oiled to move thema-
chine cleVerly. But ours, groaning and
creaklng, weighted by rapacity and con
/ ftlctng interests, is threatened with dis
! solution unless total change is made.
Therefore we turn an individual whose
virtues are the most antagonistic to the
greed and selfish aims which now dis
grace the White House.
| Verify honesty is at sad discount in
| the world when all goes smoothly. But
let there be hitch, and there is straight
way q cry for the only thing which does
! not rust with the ages. The universal
brotherhood which Horace Greeley has
/ preached, and held in his heart of hearts,
! was a very funny thing when il led the
white hatted philosopher into strange
i places, and among queer folks. But
/ who can estimate its true value, when
it alone can stem the flood of evil which
/ is NOW pouring upon us.
/ We look at his clear record, his gener-
GUS nature, his broad outlook over men
and things, and recognize a vital truth.
That at certain intervals in the history
/ of nations, God eonf0unds all astnte pol
Eicy and State craft, by bringing forward
a necessity for Old-fashiOned virtues
b1l4O1A 4Atb4 0SIA LII IllC D6tCh SIOtlLIU
and Knocked out of sight. Horace Gree
ley might have lived and died, as many
good men have done before him, with
all his dreams for the benefit of human
kind fading into mere distractions
But circumstances bid fair to give hin
a broad field for their development
| We do not fear in him the shadow Of
change. He has waged d steady war,
fare against wrong, and the old white
hat has been the blanche pennonn OF
many well fought fields. He will not
fold his hands and close his lips Whel
the interests of great nation are con.
fided to his care.
So we come back to the great bond Of
union which has won him the love anC
support of those politically or even so
eialIy opposed to him. 1t is the great
generous heart of the man, throbbins
Indignantly at wrong and oppression
g0ftening to the needy and desOlate, full
of Utopian theories for the elevation O
the race, but yet lending d hand lift an(
a heart sympathy to individual cases o
suffering. In fine, it is as the interpre
ter of d higher humanity that we hai
Horace Greeley.