The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-12

Probably the most potent objection urged
against the confirmation of Mr.. Gushing is his
seventy-four years of age We do not believe
either in his case or in the lives of the many
aged statesmen who have exercised marked
influence on their time that septuagenarian
wisdom is whit less practical than that of
the man in the MONDAY of his years. We are
too apt in America to imagine that mans
capacity and good sense are suddenly ex-
tnguished after he completes his sixtieth year.
This is in the genius of our institutions. per-
haps, but it is lamentable error that we
should make haste to Danish from our estimate
of the services of our leading men. glance
from the galleries Of the House of
Representatives down on the assembled
wisdom of the country shows that the
men who make our bad laws, who disorder
our finances and spend three months in the
year in laying the network Of endless htiga-
ton are seldom ripe in years, wearing the
white emblems of fine old age. 1t is the
middle-aged man, busted with ambition and
the perpetuation of his own power. who
has to do with the vital interests of the
country. In Europe NJ. Theirs, day after
day, from the tribune Of the French
Assembly, controlled that turbulent body as it
was never disciplined BEFORE and at his great
age was able to govern France though wedged
between ultramontanism on the one hand
and red repubicanism on the other. Nearly
all of the leading statesmen of France are
septuagenarians In Germany we have the
venerable Emperor, and a still more surpris-
ing illustration of mental power and telling
energy in Moltke, the ablest strategist of the
age England has generally been ruled by
white-haired statesmen. Palmerston at sew
made in the map Of Europe; Lord
Derby was in power at seventy; Lord
John Russell begins fresh war on the
Pope at eighty-four while his illustrious antag-
onist is but one year his junior. Gortschakoff is
an octogenarian, but wilier Minister never
served monarch SO that, in fine, Europe
is governed by an octogenaran oligarchy
Turning to our own country, we have General
Dix in his old age as good Governor as ever
filed the chair; Mayor Havemeyer, who is so
old that we dare not investigate the truth,
occupies the civic chair of the municipality,
and discharges it's duties with as much vim as
young man of eighty. We notice, then,
that wherever there is old age there is careful,
conscientious administration.
While, therefore, We need more of this
class of public servants, we do not wish to
disparage the labors Of younger men. Pitt at
twenty-four was at the helm when England
was riding out the most violent political
storm that ever tested her institutions. In
the East there is the young viceroy of Egypt,
whose diplomacy was always match for the
cunning measures of the late aged Ali Pacha,
statesman who has probably delayed the
exeunt of the Turks from Europe by at least
fifty years. To speak at large, the work of
the world is done by young men-by those
between twenty-five and thirty -fve-and while
it may not always be of that cool and de-
hberate nature which distinguishes the labors
of the old man, it is nevertheless the work of
the age. Between twenty-five and thirty-five
a man sees more clearly than at any future
time in his life, although happily he does not
know it. 1t is during this period that he gives
fashion to his career and direction to his
aspirations. Disraeli said in his Glasgow
speech that youth should learn two things
''Know myself" and harmonic with the
spirit of the age. Oftentimes, we might
say generally, these public men born before
the dawn of the nineteenth century are not of
our time. They belong to the silk stocking
and knee buckle gentry still. Yet when they
recognize that the world moves they are the
most valuable of officials. 1t is not so much
what public servant in exalted station does
that we regard as the essential part of his
duties, but rather what he abstains from
doing. All will recognize that in an old man
this desirable quality is the best developed.
Yet eighty years does not always mean old
age. Time at best is convenient fiction;
and if we could get at the tissues and men,
branes Of Caleb Cushing we might find them
as full of vitality as if he were but fifty, and
the same is true Of many of his contempo-
rares.
The French Cabinet and the Assem-