Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-11-14
Amenity between Political Opponents.

Amenity between Political Opponents.
1t is certain that one of the most effec
tive weapons which can be used in
politics, or indeed on any stage in
which men meet in rivalry and colli-
sion, is amenity. Not only the man who
does not lose his temper usually has the
best of the argument, but he who goes
further, who seems to willingly admit
the strength of his adversary, who com
pliments his adversary's plea, and con-
veys the impression that he is meeting a
foenan worthy of his own ste"l, sets
forth with a signal advantage in his
favor To admit good motives and able
reasoning in an opponent, is to elevate
a speakers own plea to higher force
and dignity; the inference forced upon
the mind being that the stronger the
foe, the greater the merit of the victory.
Mutual courtesies between political or
literary adversaries are always pleasant
TO see, and invariably exalt the respect
in which they are held. We always
like TO hear, too, OF the strong private
friendships which sometimes exist
between public men who, in their
public capacity, are earnest antagonists.
Through all the heat of the Andrew
johnson controversy, William III. Sew
ard, his Secretary of State, was socially
familiar with Thaddeus Stevens, john
sons fiercest assailant; no public differ
ences threw shadow on the intimacy
of these political veterans. Webster
and Calhoun, too, though often pitted
against each other on questions the
most irritating, were very strong friends
to the last; and Calhoun rose from his
death-5ed TO totter to the Senate-Cham-
ber and hear Webster make his famous
9Th of March speech. When the younger
Pitt died, his great rival, Charles James
Fox, made eulogy upon him, all the
more glowingly eloquent by reason of
their long public hostility; and that
eulogv did more 20 keep Fox's memory
green in England than his most impas-
stoned phillippic against Pitts policy.
one of the most striking instances of the
effect of generous tribute paid to an
earnest opponent. 1t is a pity that, on
the occasion of the death of the fore |
most Frenchman of the age, this gener-
osity and amenity should have been |
conspicuously wanting in some of the
public men of France; and the treat |
ment which the memory of NJ. ThierS |
received, while he lay yet unburied at
st. Germain, has discovered to us, in a |
very disagreeable way, the extreme
virulence and rancor which have de-
veloped in party conflict in France.
Journalists were found, men who would |
fain be thought not only patriotic but
pious, who could insult the illusirious |
dead, by denying him all sincerity, by
accusing him of dishonest greed, and |
by declaring that his death was dis
tinct act of God TO cut short his in
iquitous career!
Times, indeed, have changed for the |
worse since NJ. Theirs retired, four years
ago, from the Presidency. The "Mar
shalate" has somehow lost the graceful
social charm which was one of the most
pleasing features of French politics
under Thiers. Then there was almost
ian era of good feeling" Looking at
the rule of Theirs, and that of
MacMahon, from social point of view,
the contrast is very striking. At the
Marshal's receptions it is seldom that
any except partisans of his public policy
are to be met with It is, as has been
remarked, "a regime Of rudeness, savOr-
ing a good deal of the camp" Thiers
had the grace and tact to introduce social
amenity as one of the forces and bull
warks of his government. He managed
with an easy, adroit boHhomie which un-
doubtedly lent strength to his popularity
and his public influence. In those
crowded receptions at the Elysee, in the
centre of which the wonderful little
man dispensed the hOspitalities of the
state with a genial loquacity all his
own, there were gathered, not Republi-
cans alone, but "such a throng as no
French court, IONal UT lllptTidi, ever
attracted during the present century.
Mobiles of the ancient regime and radicals
of the deepest dye; soldiers and specu-
lators, TO whom the hum of the imperial
bees was dearer than the scent of the
silver lilies; priests, infidels, artists,
poets, journalists, sdudnts, and b0ur-
geoisie, ballasted with steady Orleanism
they were all there on the common
ground that divided them least; and
they would eye each other without
frenzy, and even jest and argue without
flying at each others throats." These
pleasant dissolvings of political rancor
in social contact and amenity have sadly
vanished under the grim and taciturn
soldier who now rules France; and this
is one of the least promising features of
the condition of the volatile and excita-
BILE people of that land.-Appleton's
Journal.
He Amt Got One of These"