New-York tribune., 1874-03-21
WRAT rs STA 1ESMANSHIPf

! To the razor or Thf Irtbuhe'
| SIR: London newspaper thinks that the late
Mr.. Sumner was totally deficient in statesmanshp;
and less than century ago there London
newspapers saying the same thing Of Mr.. Burke.
The world has general and not very generous way
of Judging public II is taken for granted that
| one who is qualified 10 present his opinions in a
scholarly and rhetorical form is aiming at purposes
which are no better than chimeras. Twenty years
| ago a man who denounced Slavery and hnted at its
abolition was supposed to be filled with frenzy of
| benev volence. He was man to he patiently listened
to and then voted down. IL is craftsmanship TO pro-
pound that which meets with immediate public ap-
| probatiOn to print speeches never delivered and
numerically bristlng like a merchants ledgers; to
discover some device by which the natural results
of wrong and folly may be postponed to manipulate
conventions and dexterously manage the machinery
of party; to make the most of patronage and to Sc
cure the longest train of noisy and unscrupulous fol-
lowers. Those who announce and establish truth in
human affairs are impracticables; but those who
employ these truths for their own advantage, and
profit by the public opinion thus created are states
| menl Mr.. Sumner denouncing the aggressiOns Of
| the Slave Power and resisting the extension OF
| Slavery. was theorist and dreamer-those who
are in the Senate because he so denounced and so
resisted are thoroughly practical statesmen! Snch
is our absurd classification SO it is that upon the
| monument of many "A great man we might hGy
write that his was the and the danger, and
that to Others came the substantial rewards OF the
! victory.
When Mr.. Sumner entered public life, he fonnd
| Slavery the absorbing, almost the only question
In his own State especially it had taken possession
| Of mems minds to the exclusion of nearly every
! thing else. There is something very suggestive IN
! the nickname which was bestowed upon this young
| scholar fresh from the studies of the University.
| He was called Conscience Whig." Yet he was in
| excellent company, and his immediate associates
| were men who have never been charged with inca
| nacitv for public business-he was with Charles
| Francis Adams Henry Wilson, Richard II. Dana,
| John G.. Palfrey, Samuel Hoar, and Gov. Andrew.
All these were denounced theorists and drcamers,
as fanatics and enthusiasts. He who did not accept
| the Compromise Measures was a political lunatc.
| He who Thought the Fugitive Slave Law at best "A
clumsy and barbarous enactment, was traitor
! to the Constitution He who did not follow
the lead of Mr. Webster deserter worthy
Of poltical death 1t was in the midst of these
| warm and wide differences that Mr. Summers poti-
| cal character was formed. He did not create the
| controyersy in which he found himself early in
voved: he was by birth and education conserva-
tive; he was nurtured at the feet Of the most eini-
nent jurist of the age and fed upon the broad aud
| humane doctrines of Natural Law. change had
come over the political spirit of his native Com
| monwealth. She was anxiously seeking, not for a
| great economist. not for one who could discuss
| tariffs and originate schemes OF finance but Tor q
| sepator bold enough to vindicate IN Washington
her cherished ideas of human freedom she foresaw
the approachng struggle aud she instinctiyey
| selected and commissioned her champion.
And nov, after all these historic years, II seems
90 fttha tharN Nr nor
was statesman in any limited and conventional
| sense of the word bnt whether he did well and
wortbily the work which Massachusetts, contided TO
bim7 Was he equal to those great occasions which
have proyed TO he turning points in the nations ca
reers IL So was he not a Statesman in the best and
noblest and ONLY worthy wayi Difficult people say
! that he talked OF nothing but Slavery, present oI
mast but what great public man for the last twenty
| vears has talked Of anything else ' lt certainly
aroues no lack of craftsmanship to give attention to
the necessity of the hOurto rise superior to tenn
| norarv considerations aud instant convenience
70 follow party Only when party rs Wise
and honest aud vindeate always and
| under all circumstances the democratic theo-
ries upon which the Government - founded
| and which we sometimes find 1t pleasant
est for the time TO forget Ii surely was not nn'
statesmsnhke in this great man thus constantly tc
remind the Republic of the beauty and the safety o
consistency. Ii snrely was not unstatesmanlike Il
labor for union IN fact as well az in name and to
geek " Cancellation well "a by justice, to allay
the passions of the Civil War. 1t surely was moi
unstatesmanlike to denounce the last lingering
traces of class prejudice and hatred, and to demand
that all should be equal before the law The end u
not vet: but who now shall resume the work which
these dead hands have left unfinished Who In tb,
Senate shall aid to his opinions the weight OF
character ~ spotles, the culture OF mind NO ac
complisbed aud the persistence which par'eya WIN
no wrong' The Seoator who was no Statesman"
| ~ gouei Where ia the Statesman now C.
Boston. March Is, 1874