The Red Cloud chief., 1877-08-30

claStS 10 MAINTAIN LndL tneTo were no
cotton bales in the breastwOrks at New
Orleans; that Putnam did not ride his
horse down a flight of seventy stone
steps; that Sheridan never made the
famous ride to Winchester; that Far
ragut was not lashed to the rigging in
Mobile Bay; that Nelson did not give
the signal, England expects every man
to do his duty; that Lawrence did not
cry, Never give up the ship, that
| Caesar did not reprOach his friend with
"Et tn Brute; that Calico did not
murmur "E pur 81 muOve"; that CrOm-
well did not tell his men, Trust in God
and keep your powder dry; that Will
liam Tell never had a son, or a bow and
arrow, or an existdnce; that Barbara
Frietchie was drunk and d%isOrderly ;
that George Washington's Ratchet did
not cut, or his body servant survive his
master. The icOnOclasts, We say, may
maintain any, or all, of these PROPOSE
tons; but there is no reason why the
intelligent student of history should
not believe such of the accepted YER
| sions as he likes. Tn evidence in
favor of them-if We are compelled to
come down to so practical and unsym-
pathetic a thing as evidence-is at least
as strong as that against them. The
mere fact of their existence is prima
| facie proof OF their truth. In the calm
spirit of philosophy, it is easier to be-
lieve in them as facts than to suppose
that they were invented.
There are two reasons why the rO-
nance of history should be protected
from assault. 1t preserves the record
of the best and nOblest achievements
of mankind, and it furnishes consOla-
ton to fainting humanity. There may
be occasionally a fly in the amber, or an
ounce of sour in a pound of sweet, but
| the mass of it all is wholesome and
stimulating. We may not always be
sure that these particular persons did
act as represented, but unQuestiOnably
they would have done so if they had
thought of it. Thackeray used to la
ment that all his best things occurred
to him when it was too late to utter
them. The elder of the Virginians, it
will be remembered, went away from
an encounter of words sorrOwfully on
a certain occasion, because he had
missed an opportunity to make the
most crushing retOrt of his whole eX-
istence. The famous wits made pro-
riGinn for the general unpreparedneSS
OF poor nature by coming LIleII
bon mots and Jeur d'eSprits beforehand.
-nUu I~naChcIdy nII1IStII, UI IUUkIHg
casually at two piles of oysters, one of
which was larger than the other, re-
marked to a friend, "How they must
hate each Otker," no doubt he was less
spontaneous than he appeared. Poster
ity is doing no more than its duty, if,
when reflection suggests what a man
should have said in some critical and
r. trying i9g.t emIIe re e. yy,.l he is allowed q, to say
dead and turned to dust. How piously
did Plato provide for Socrates in this
respect! socrates, if he had lived, would
never have warned the AthenianS not
to kill him, lest they might never find
his fellow; but Plato made him say so;
and Plato eked out the conversation of
the parent philosopher at other times
with many a healthy interjectiOn of his
own. POsterity equips its heroes with
all the brains they ought to have had,
being in this respect more generous
than Surly old DR.. Johnson, who SAID
to a troublesome friend: 81 give you
the arguments, sir; | am not bound to
furnish you the brains with which to
comprehend Them"
The type of all the modern icOnOclasts
is Betsy Pring. She started the thing
when she disputed the existence of Mrs.
Harris. 1t was as mOnStrOus and un-
provoked al assault as Archbishop
Whateley's inquiry into the existence
of Napoleon BOnaparte. Since then
there have been found persons to deny
all the best authenticated facts of his.
tory, and the worst has not been told.
We may hear at any moment that Pho |
clon was not compelled to pay the cost
of his w execution, or that Addison |
the old reprObatc!-did not summon
his step-sOn to see how a Christian
could die. CAS- if any Christian could
not die; the hard thing is for a Chris.
tlan to live.) Already historians have
arisen to deny that Mr.. Beecher, on a
memorable Sunday morning, remarked
that 1t was p~rofanely warm; but We
have never heard any body contradict
the anecdote. now for the first time
given to the world. that Otway, when
he chOked himself to death with a crust.
complained Of being dry. There has
lately been an attempt to pervert his
tory by a new Interpretation of the
last words of Marmiun, which Scott
has given as "Charge, Chester, charge"
but which have been transformed into
Charge it, Chester. charge it." indica-
ting the existence of an unliquidated
bill as between the English Knight and
Mr.. Chester, who was probably a tav-
ern keeper in the vicinity of the action.
Stephens, too, it seems, has
been endeavoring to prove that Junius
never was. which prepares Us to hear
that "Slug Six" himself is a spirit of
evil.