New-York tribune., 1874-03-21
GREELEY AND SUMNER

UPS. swISsHEIM INCULCATEs THE LESSON OF THEIR
IvKs-TuE HEART AND HEAD OF THE ANTI
SLAVERY MOVEMENT DISCARDED FOR THE
BLINDLY EXECUTING HAND-THE GREAT EDUCA-
TORS OF TILE PEOPLE IN LESSONS OF FREEDOM
a PARTY WHICH DESERVES DEATH
70 the EditOr Of The Trfbuns'
SIR: To me- Mr. Summers death is so much a per
sona loss that to speak of 1T publicly Is IKE op-
tuding my private griefs upon people who nave
tcrrow enough of their own, and may I1ghtfuy claim
eycnption from such obtruson. Such is feeling
tut reason says am but one of thousands, each OF
whom must feel that he or she has lost personal
friend As his life was devoted to the best interests
,fbis country his age, and race, his death should
,ubserye those interests and now, while the nation
stands sorrOwiug around his open grave, may be a
good time to read the lesson of both life and death
That lesson is that this age is one of materallsm
II is the ace of muscle, rather the closing. we
wonld hope of the centuries of the reign Of brute
force
M two men so fully represented the idea which
triumuhed in our civil war as did Horace Greeley
aud Charles Sumner. They foresaw that Slavery,
tue creation of political compromise. must be over
thrown by political action To insure that action
they lent their giant intelecs, and labored carly
aud late year In year out. To the enthusiasm COM
mon TO reformers, they added the cool intellect
nty and press it into the service of their phian-
thropic plans. As leaders they did not 90 so far
before the people that those who might follow
could not see the light from their lanterns They
led by such steps as were practicable to thousands
of others less endowed than themselves. They were
patient educators, who did not scorn to teach the
primer Of political freedom to people not prepared
for a more advanced class and when their pupils
had 10 far increased in numbers and advanced In
progress that. the enemies Of their ideas resolved
10 Dieak up the school, the police were
called IN to put down the mob and restore
Ofder, out the pupils could not be made
to nnlearn the alphabet. They had been fairly
started and placed in position from which retreat
was impossible. Like the Israetes at the Red Sea,
they must " 20 forward and forward they went
but strange to TELL TO the police officer who enforced
order, 10 the men of muscle who cleared the road,
rebounds the glory! The heart which prompted,
The head that planned, have been assigned second
ary place to the hand which executed; and the ma
tIon which reJOices It's deliverance from great
national curse lavishes its honors and emoluments
Oh blind instruments, on the muscle which did the
work designed by patriotism and intelligence. How
long would the American slave have clanked his
chains if he had waited until the men whom this
nation now delight TO honor had moved for his de
lverance3 How long would we have borne re
prosch man-scllIng corporation, boastful Of it,
democracy, if we had waited until President Grant
or any of his Csbiue had felt the disgrace anc
lifted hand TO arrest iti Where were the prOmi
nent Republicans Of to-day when Horace Greeley
Charles Sumuer, and their compeers fought the bat
Ties Of Liberty, in which victory made necessary
those other battles on that lower plane TO which
BOW ahcribe the honor of national deliyerance
How many Of them have served their country
for Hoaght, or laid brick IN the walls of our Tenn
PIE Of Liberty without demanding " receiving tie