National Republican., 1882-01-14
rHE pREsIpEMrIAL LEoruRER.
II There Any Real nInerencc Bc'Ween
aamlinnm nun LALItalnar Ilrlh.

Guitcnu aud WbisriRw Reid.
The STAN in their cour.s fight against "uitenu.
One Of the most brilliant Ofthc stars now visible Is
the editor Of the Tribune, whose curious letter Of
advice to the late President Just published, GER
tainly ought to have an influence, none the less
powerful for being indirect upon the trial Of Gu-
toau. The prlsOnor's sole defense Is insanity, and
the proofs of his insanity which are most strongly
relied on by his counsel are the letters which he
wrote to President Garfield and to Secretary Blaine
before tho RssassiIiai5ss. iii, fi ia argued,
vvuIu no impudcnt enough, within the limits OF
sane impudencc, and foolish enough, within the
limits Of sane folly, TO write such letters as those
to the President of the United States expecting as
Gultcau evidently did expect, that they would in
nuencc the Presidents mind. II is at this point
that the collateral evidence Of the sanity OF Gui-
teau unconsciously offered by the letter Of
MR.. wHlrELAw REID TO PRESIDENT GARFIELD
becomes Of the highest importance Nobody has
ever thought of describing the editor Of the hi
bune as insane The power and balance Of his in
tellect used to extort the almost daily admiration
OF our esteemed contemporary, the sun III Inc
editor OF The Tribune were on trial for murder his
counsel would hardly presume TO plead insanity
ns his defense. When a man so cmincntly sane Is
shown to have written letters os plainly Intended
to bulldoze President as those Of Gucnu, the
nhsutdty Of Guiteau's defense becomes irresistiby
evident
THAT DuLI.DozlNd WAS As PLAINLY
the object Of Mr. Reids letter of instructions as OF
most careless reader. In fact, except for the sub
| ject. t.matter, the most forcible passages of each
might be intcrpOlated in the other without cNcit-
! ing any sense Of incongrhty "Corneil's candi.
| date for surveyor Is Isaac " Baker, who Is bad
| lot This letter shows that Mr. Blaine is II
| wicked man, ana you ought to demand his imme-
diato resignation otherwise you and the Republl-
| can party will come TO grief" "lf he slrrenders
now Conkling Is President for the rest OF the term
and Garfield becomes o laughing stock" 81 will
| see you in the morning u can and tax with
| you" " Beware Of James son, insnuating way.
| He is again wholly under Conkling's influence,
| but stern, sharp admouition Will bring him in
| stantly TO his bearings"
THESE EXTRACTS,
! which might be indefinitely multiplied show that
| the two writers, though writing from stnndpOints
wide apart asthe poles were equally In enrnestin
cndCavoring to impress their views upon the prcsi
| dent, that they adopted substantially the same
style for that purpose, ana that they differed only
| III their views of public policy, about which the
| Sancst men differ. No Republican has as yet gone
so far as to maintain that taking either side of the
mctioual quarrel IN the Republican party Is n
| proof of insanity So far Us these letters go they
show that while Guiteau was Stalwart of the
Stalwarts and
LECTuRED THE PRESIDENT
from the Stalwart point of vicw Mr. Reid was n
Half Breed of the Half Breeds, and lectured the
| President from the Half Breed point of view, but
that the lectuting was done IN the same manner
IN each case , and proceeded from me same fSli
TO say TO the welfare OF the President who was
lcctured. The President seems to have listened 70
the lecture of Mr. Reid, and to have treated with
cOntumely the lecture of Guitcau. But that has
nothing 10 do with the relations OF the mood In
which man sets out to lecture President to the
sanity of the lecturer. If, therefore, we are "a
conclude upon the evidence Of his letters to tho
President, that Guteau was insane last spring, we
must come to the same conclusion about the men
tai condition at the same season OF the dlstif-
guished editor Of the Tribune upon the evidence
of his letter TO the President As the theory OF in
sanity is clearly impossible and absurd in the case
of Mr., Reid, why Is 1t any more tenable in the
case of Guiteuu 2-NCtC York World.