New-York tribune., 1878-04-13
WILLJ1W M1RCY TWEED.

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WILLIAM MARCY TWEED.
He who was chief OF the departed Ring, has
himself departed. Death has come to rescue
him from alt chance of future indictments,
and the catalogue of his earthly ignomlnies Is
concluded. His career was remarkable; In
some respects it was brilliant, as bril-
liancy is rated in the low and larcenous
ranks To which he belonged; but all men OF the
least moral perception knew that his llfe, as
whole, was a wretched failure. III every pos
sible way and from whatever point of view 1t
NAV be regarded. The annalist who lecounts
his triumphs, the important places which he
filed in the City, the State ana the
Nation. the enormous sums OF money
which he stole from the public to squander
in luxurious living, in feeing lawyers
in bribing Legislators and IN c0rrupung
voters, will he compelled to add, as the con-
clusion of all, that he died miscrabiy IN a
prison.
Peoplc have spoken Of him since his down.
fall as " Old Tweed He had committed SO
many offences, his peculations had Deen
so large, and his felonious operations
SO numerous, that ii was taken for granted
that he was greatly advanced in life. Inc tluth
is, he was comparatively young; he was only
fftv-fvc his public career of which so much
has been said, and the history Of which covers
so large a space in these columns this morning,
dates no further back than 1850, when he
had the Ill fortune to be elected AiderhAh
of the Seventh Ward. Before that time he
was hardly known outside the city limits. lie
ran with the machines, he figured Ill the
lower sort Of political meetings ana mah"u-
vrings, he WAS a power III the corner gro
comes. vet there were hundreds like him,
and with as good chance as his OF
becoming magnifccntly notorious. But he
pushed and intrigued, he c0nSOrted with the
drrgS of the city, he manipulated the
masses, he treated the drunken, and he
hired the vcnal, and all to 50 much purpose,
that he could hardly have kept out of Con
srcss if he had tried. To Congress, therefore,
he went, but his were talents whicn were quite
lost in that august body. His proper field was
Ncw-Yorli, and he came back to II, to nil va
rious places, but mainly to preside over lis pay
roll The President otthc Board Of Supervisors
enriched himself and all his friends. He cor
rupted judges; he purchased the Assembly
he acted upon the principle that every man
had his price, and that price, wnen
ne thought it worth his while, he
was always ready to pay. New-IoIk was
rich, and the booty was unlimited. He car
rird on a system of thieycry which has no
parallel in the history of this continent.
These almost incredible pcculations were
in tine exposed; the only wonder is that their
details were so long concealed. The result
was that Tweed went to BlacAwciFs Island
where other thieves, who only steal watches
and purses. are confined. lie went from the
penitcn,ary to the Jail lie ran away and he
was brought back again. He tTed by various
offers of compromise and restitution TO secure
once more his liberty, but nothing came Of lt.
The moral would otherwise have lost Us point,
and the tale its principal ornament. prison
WAS the httest place Tor such man 20 die IN /;
and there lac died.
His last words seem to indicate that he was
wonderfully deficient in the commoncst Of
moral sense lie kept up the farclcll pretencc
of matvrdom to the end. 1t Was not the
least remarkable feature of his character that
he ALWAYS, after his luck left him, insisted
upon being regarded as an unfortunate old man.
We have seen that hc WAS not old-he was
only unfortunate is other rogucs and cOnyicts
have been, and will continue TO be, 80 long
~ civilized states exist. Tested by generally
accepted rules of justice, his career may be
REGARDED rs in some respects fortunate one
Men infinitely less guilty than lac was, for
,arceuies winch were indeed petty compared
with his, have been subjected Tor consider
able portion OF their lives to the rigorous dis
cIpliue OF Sing Sing. As civil debtor, he
p..sscd his last days in a condition compare
iyciy luxurious, and with money enough
left to provide himself with every
comfort. He had the solace OF continually
deyismg plans for his own enlargement which
came to nothing, and could have come TO
nothing, had he lived, without overriding
every principle of law and justice, but winch
he undoubtedly found useful III allaying the
trdium of imprisonment. Nor will his memory
be altogether an unfragrant one IN many
minds. People who shared in his ApIcian ban
Guets useful rascals who voted for him, hurrahed
for him, and fondly called him " Boss" tOadies
who talked of erecting his statue as that
of remarkable public benefactOr; thieves
who reverenced him as the deml-gOd Of theiI
calling; go0d-natured people who are always
prating of a mans best traits as If they quite
COMPENSATED for his worst all these will
tendery speak of him as "Blll" and Boss, D."
and will assure us that there are worse men
left in the world than he was. Their method
of moral estimate may answer the purposes OF
bar-room lamentation; but as Mr.. Tweed
was thoroughly dishonest man, and rs he
never, even in his last hour, gave the slight
est evidence Of repentance, we may spare the
reader platitudcs about his virtues and common
place excavations, none the less empty be-
cause he is dead.
RING GOVERNAENT
The history of William NJ. Tweed is elo-
quent iu warnings alike to honest citizens and