The New York herald., 1874-12-01
rhe Late Mayor Havemeyer.


post Of duty about noon yesterday, makes o
profound impression on the public mind.
Mayor Havemeyer had completed the three
score years and ten which the Hebrew Psalm
ist regarded as the limit Of human life, and
the decease Of q man OF that ripe age is not
calculated to shock public feeling unless 1t
takes place under circumstances OF peculiar
impressiveness. When an aged man, yielding
TO some OF the ordinary forms OF disease, dies
in his bed, surrounded by his family and
sympathizing friends, assembled to ease the
fight of the departing spirit the event seems
60 entirely in the course Of nature that we
bow in humble submission to the decree OF
Providence and add o gentle melancholy to
the sorrow of those who are bound to him
by nearer ties. But when a prominent pub
lie man. high in official station, is
smiiten by the Destroyer without warning, in
the full activity OF his faculties and his iamil-
lar presence is caught away as in quickly
descending cloud, our spirits sink under
subduing sense of the frail tenure Of all
earthly possessions.
And vet. aside from the added afaiction
which tails upon domestic circle forbidden
the last Offices of tenderness and the dying
blessing. the sudden death of Mayor Have
meyer, when his official term was so near its
close, is beneficent dispensation. 1t bright
ems the memory Of his virtues and covers his
faults with mantle Of generous oblivion.
Had he gone out Of Office month hence with
the Inauguration of his successor, the inde-
fensible parts of his career, as being the most
recent, would have left the strongest impress
sion on the public mind But the appeal to
our common human sympathies made by
so affecting q death disarms hostility and
obliterates every feeling Of resentment. II
the impulsive and energetic American people
carry their political warfare to passionate
lengths they are too manly and chivalrous to
strike a fallen foe, and all political like all
personal animosities are hushed into silence
by the event which reminds US "what
shadows we are and what shadows we pur-
sue" This deep and abiding magma
nimity which underlies our fierce po-
litical contentious is, perhaps, the
most estimable feature of the American char
acter Our quarrels and chickering's are
mere waves on the surface of o sea of human
feeling whose profoundest depths have
reserve of genuine humanity which the storms
of political controversy do not disturb. This
redeeming quality OF the American heart
was never more signally illustrated than
at the tragic death of President Lin
coin, when every breath Of censure SUBJ
sided in reverent stiffness, and political foes
We'd with political friends in recognizing and
celebrating his virtues 1t is beautiful
feature of our national character that We are
always so ready to lay the acerbities OF poll
tics on the altar of generous feeling or bury
them in a suddenly opened grave Ii we be-
lieve that deceased public man was guided
by honest intentions and patriotic impulses
we easily pardon his errors of judgment and
his human imfrmities when he is sum-
moned before the great tribunal where we
shall all need mercy and indulgence.
The impressive suddenness of Mayor Have
meyers death spreads o broad mantle of
oblivion over the faults and infrmities of the
last months, when the unperceived seeds of
disease were silently undermining his consti-
tuition and the faculties of his mind, and
creates willingness to estimate his character
on survey Of his whole career, which has
been, in the main, praiseworthy and honora-
BILE. The old inhabitants of the city, who
cherish sentiments Of respect and affection
for citizens born among them and growing up
under New York influences, are affected by
this death in a manner which our vast popu-
lation of newcomers cannot readily under
stand. This great mart of commerce, of
which we are all SO proud, seems to its recent
inhabitants like great caravansary, where
men come and go, make sudden for
tunes and retire, but acquire little of
that sacred home-like feeling which
ministers to the most abiding sentiments
of the human heart. A city of such wonder
full growth has its drawbacks as well as its
advantages. In some respects it is more like
an inn than home, and its recent and tran
sient residents cannot be expected to enter
into all the sentiments of those who were born
here. feel rooted here and cherish fond attach
ment to the old and stable families whose long
residence gives identity and continuity to the
social life Of this changing metropolis.
It is one Of the most respectable
cravings of the human heart to feel
that it is not living in an inn or caravansary,
but home, and in this great bustling city
the only anchor for hearts which rest on
abiding attachments is that part of our popu-
lation who were born and nurtured on this
island. Accordingly no member of an old
New York family can die, even if he has no
other distinction than that of being q native
of the city, without exciting q kindly
interest and pensive regrets in the
hearts of our old inhabitants. Mr.. Have
meyer, as an old New Yorker, born and
bred among us, would have touched this