Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-01-05

OI aEbe
There has been much newspaper
talk with regard to a successor OF
Minister Jewell to the court at st.
Petersburg. Mr.. Lowell, Carl
Schurz and others of literary merit
have been spoken of i'll connection
with this mission. 1t might be that
either of these gentlemen would
make an excellent diplomatic rep
resentative of our country at the
Russian court; and it might be that,
however admirable their literary
work might be, they would not show
themselves well fitted for practical
diplomatic duties, particularly those
of position at the most polished,
expensive, searching, and eXacting
court in Europe. Our "best men"
are by no means necessarily literary
men. Silas Wright was pre-emi-
nentlv one of our best men; a rep
resentative man, who stood for all
that is pure, statesmanlike, true, in
our American politics, and was less
a literary man than politician Gin
the better sense of the world and
statesman. And the same thing is
true of jefferson, and OF very con-
siderable number of illuStriouS men
who have honOred public station,
quite as much as they have been
honored by it. Yet, it is also true
that, of the best men of our times,
only few are ever seen in Congress
or in bereavement service. Some
of them are literary men, some are
in business; all are in private life.
Perhaps they deem the post OF honor
the private station; but our country
has need of such men in Congress
and in other branches of the govern
ment, as well as in the civil service.
These reports respecting Mr.. Lowell
and Mr.. Schurz, if they be we'll
founded, may indicate an example
that might be protitably followed to
certain extent, and we incline to
the hope that some such experiment
will be tried. 1t is high time that if
we are ever going to bring the best
class of our men into political life or
public station, the experiment should
be begun in something more than
merely spasmodic way.
President Pierce sent the most
creditable literary man America pos
sessed to represent our country in
England, in the capacity of consul at
Liverpool. Although the selection
of Mr.. Hawthorne for such an UNI
looked for position, was no doubt
due to considerations of close per-
sonal friendship, rather than to any
purpose of merely bringing forward
a shy, peculiar and great author, the
experiment proved in that case a
brilliantly successful one. 1t is still
remarkable III England that the Uni
ted States never sent to that country,
in any capacity, a more creditable
representative, or one who did more,
practically, to right existing wrongs
in the American merchant service,
correct chronic abuses, and command
universal respect in England among
business men and among scholars
and the literate, than the consul we
sent to Liverpool, in the person of
Nathaniel Hawthorne. We have
since been represented in other i'm
portant stations abroad by such lite
rary men as Motley and Bancroft,
and these selections are commonly
held to have honored our country.
1t is notorious that our best men
are not brought into our political
affairs. All of us can think of men
in private life who would honor, in
stead of disgracing our country, as
members of Congress. 1t was re-
marked by that highly intelligent
traveller in this country, De Tocque-
vile, that the best men in America
were, as rule, neither in public life
nor anxious to be there. An OBJ
serving foreigner said, quite recently,
"Everything went well until l came
to Washington, and then Congress
staggered my faith in America
The reason why so many capable,
cultivated and upright men KEEP
aloof from political affairs is a very
plain one. They have no taste fol
the vulgar scramble and the vile
methods by which so many noted
politicians manage to climb into
distinction,