The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-06-18
Our New York Letter.
William Cullen Bryani-Skeich OF his
EdiforiaI and Political Career.
New YORK, June II. 1873.

ohe 1.-The most striking figures in the panor-
"ma o1 metropolitan life passed out of mortal
s,sn when William Cullen Bryant was buried
rrlday' Probably there was but one other
rIan in all New York who was known to and
feyered by so many people. He had lived here
80 long, was so often in the streets because of
his favorite practice of walking, and was &C.
customed to appear so frequently in publ ic as
semblages of various kinds, that his face was
very familiar to young and old. 1t was always
remarkably striking countsnaace and in later
years when the hair and beard were as white
as snow, it was study for painter. IL has
been reproduced so often and with such skill
oy artist and sculptor, that its lineaments are
widely known throughout the land. His form
was SO noticeable that people who were not
aware who he was would be very apt to turn
and look at him and inquire his name, but any
body who had seen an engraving of him taken
within score Of years, would instantly recog-
nize the original If they met him.
OF Mr.. Bryant's fame as poet there will be
no lack of disquisition. My memory Of him,
which extends back some thirty years, bears
upon the relations he bore to the stirring events
OF that momentous period. Up to 1917 he had
been leading Democratic editor, thoroughly
devoted to his party and conducting his paper
with degree of ability and vigor which made
1T a powerful auxiliary of the cause it espoused.
He always refused, however, to aid or abet in
any way the lapse into pro-slavery heresies
which was alike the crime and the blunder of
that once mighty organization. Year after
year when northern Democratic conventions
were abasing themselves by the adoption of
platforms, apologizing for and feebly defend
ing the sin of owning and selling men, the
Evening Post rang with vehement protests
against the injustice and impolicy of any such
with wrong doing At last when
the question came of pollutng the soil of the
territories with slavery. the Post was one of the
earliest and strongest of the opponents of that
iniquity. The issue rent the Democracy of
New York in twain and led to the memorable
campaign of 1913. The anti-slavery Democrats
joined hands with men of other states who
were averse to the extension of slavery into
the territories and held the Buffalo convention,
nominating Van Buren and Adams on their
Presidential ticket.
This wing of the party was not strong in
New York City. The highest it ever counted
was about 1000 votes. There were a good
many men of note in it, Samuel ]. Tilden,
Clarkson N. Potter, Smith Ely, Jr., and An
drew Fl. Greene were members of the General
Committee; John A. Dix and David Dudley
Field took prominent part in the movement.
The Post was the only paper in the city that
supported it. 1t was strong in the interior,
however, and Van Buren, got more votes than
Cass in the state.
Out of this nucleus the Republican party
came Into existence. Most of the politicians
meanwhile had sagged back again into the party
lines. Tilden and Potter retreated early-be-
fore they had time to find out that they were
returning to party which was destined to be
soon overthrown for its offenses against human
rights. Probably if they had held out two
years longer they would have become aud ever
since continued to be Jealous Republicans.
But Mr.. Bryant stood firm in that crisis and
the columns of the Post were always thereafter
eloquent in their protests against the encroach-
ments of the slave power. The Tribune and
the Post were the only daily papers in New
York that were not in active or passive sympa-
thy with the lords of the lash. Greeley and
held apart by natural law OF repulsion both
did grand service for liberty all the time the
conflict lasted. The one protectionist, the
other free trader, the one in favor of govern
ing much, the other of governing little, they
agreed on proposition which seems self-evi-
dent now. but which was vehemently disputed
then by doctrinaires of press and pulpit, to wit,
that no living man has a shadow of right to
the earnings of another.
1t is natural that one should conceive prc..
found respect for leader under whose tr' ~
every thing about the campaigr. of 1sas 70 .t;, =.
up the enthusiasm of all th n.r,;c;nan,,S 's. =.
1t was disinterested .,rugele for a great nv, n n
ciple with cerIs4nty that success could only
come tnroue "a prolonged effort, and unfalterine
persey erence. There were no rewards TO be oh
taned, no perquisites to be dispensed. Parties
who enlisted under that banner were in no
danger OF having their sincerity questioned.
The contest lasted twelve years. There were
some minor successes achieved meanwhile.
The Democratic leaders behaved as if they we're
deliberately planning the overthrow of their
party. They truekled so abjectly to the South
that every one of their followers who had
spark of manhood in his nature must have be-
come disgusted long before the finishing blow
was struck
1t was during this long siege that the Even
log Post attained the zenith of its fame as a
newspaper aud grew to be an exceedingly valu-
able property. Before that it had been pretty
close rub and go with the concern. A great
many evening contemporaries had appeared
and disappeared since the Post was founded !;
only two had survived and they had undergone
several mutations of propretorship. The Post
had the advantage of rare longevity. There
has been az much intellect on it-perhaps more
first and last as there has upon any daily
sheet in New York. And yet it was not until
after its espousal of the cause of Free soil, and
its championship of the Buffalo platform, "free
soil, free speech, free labor and free men," that
it really began to be largely profitable. In the
course OF the succeeding twenty years, there
have been several fortunes earned in and taken
out of 1t. and Mr.. Bryant has undoubtedly left
considerable estate. 1 have heard it esti-
mated as high as million dollars, but Of course
such conjectures are likely to be very wide Of
the mark. Mr.. Bryants connection with the
Post for some time past has been rather nomi-
nal than real. The firm has been converted in
to corporation and the name represents GER
tain number of shares instead of the indvidu-
ality of co-partners.
was accustomed for SO many years to find
myself in agreement with the sentiments of
the Evening Post on all topics of public inter.
est that it filled me with regret not unmixed
with Indignation to find it drifting in 1871 into
that muddy current of Defamation that took
form in the most extravagant misstatements
about the administration of Gen. Grant. L be-
heve the paper would have committed itself to
the "anything to beat Grant conspiracy If
anybody else except Greeley had been NOM
mated at Cincinnati. After that there was
nothing to bs done but to support Grant But
it was not frank and hearty recognition Of his
eminent fitness for reelection, but rather
halting compulsory advocacy as if 1t were
choice between two evils. This did look like
such piece of ingratitude as well as of fstuity
that it was difficult to account for it on any
other theory than that Of decadence in the
moral as well as intellectual tone of the jour-
nal. The Post has been splenetic ever since.
1T never has had any good thing to say Of a