New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-07
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dRDUOUS GREATNESS.

That was queer sort oil international Dan-
| qnet' which General Grant gave to General
| Diaz the other evening The guest of the oo-
casion does net understand the English Ian
| guage OF he might have been mystiied by some
of the speeches made by the eminent persons
| present. If the official announcement had not
been made that it was an international BAN
quep an unsophstcated reader of the reports
of the speeches made by General Grant and Mr..
Conkling would jump to the erroneous conclu-
sion that one of the good old-fashioned, brass
medal, third-term orgies had been celebrated
again. Mr.. Conkling appears to have looked
upon the feast as being of that character.
Whether he went there with that impression,
or was beguiled into it by General Grants al
lusion to him rs an eminent public man, es-
3teemed and honored by all patriotic Ameri-
scans" is not clear. At all events. il is clear That
he delivered himself of a speech which would
have been hailed with delight rs masterpiece
of genius by an assemblage of brass-medal pa
triots. We are told in one report that the
speech was full of spirit and humor," and in
another the intimation is given that it was
somewhat tedious, for the account closes with
the statement that Mr. Conkling was still talk
ing at midnight, and tho other speakers were
"waiting for their turn
Let us cor template the speech as a burst of
humor IL should be said at the outset that the
Conkling style of humOr Is somewhat pondefUus
When he was delivering his speech in the Acad-
envy Of Music in 1880, and cat ran across the
stage, he threw the audience into perfect con-
vulsisns of laughter by saying: ABE good to
her; don't touch it you might spoil Demo
"craiic otice-holder.r Critical persons, reading
that outburst in cold type, were unable to see
any humor in il, and even went so far as TO say
they coud see no sense i'm IL either. That Is the
popularity of Mr.. Conkling's humor. It has
to be received direct from his lips in order to
bee appreciated. This fact must be kept in
mind constantly in considering his speech ut
the Diaz banquet. lie conceived that il would
be stupendously funny to devote his speech en-
tirely to q culogy of General Grant. He ac-
cordingly worked one of in the old familiar
STYLE and ended it with the now classic remark
about his being "great in the arduous greatness
Of things DONE" AS an extra touch of humOr he
woye into the body of the eulogy defense of
"bosses," saying 1t seems to me that Gene
"ral Grant might fifty and wisely be hailed IA
"a boss for that term, as | understand il, is q
"term not Of reproach but OF honor, Is meaning
" a man fit to lead, bold TO lead, firm and deter
mined in his leadership" The exquisite humor
of all this, in speech at an international ban
quet to General Diaz of Mexico, may not be
apparent to outsiders, but We have no doubt IL
was highly enjoyed by General Grant and by
Mr.. Conkling. AS for General Diaz, no docs
not understand Engllsb, a fact which will I'M
doubtedly assist him in perceiving the humor of
the speech.
We must sct down Mr.. Conkling, therefore.
NJ unique humorist. We have called him
ponderous, but in no invidious sense He him
self has said somewhere, If we remember
rightly, that true greatness consists in the "ar-
duous, greatness of things done" He is GER
tainly very great in tho arduous greatness" of
the humorous things he has done. And aside
from the humor of making such speech at
such time what could possibly be funnier
than that definition of boss T." given by
boss" with Mr.. Conklings remarkable record
The aarduous greatness" of that is beyond
praise.