National Republican., 1883-10-11
A Sketch OF an Unconscious Hypocritc

A Sketch OF an Unconscious Hypocritc.
Charles Emory Smith has at last arisen to
reply to our charges against him. He roasted
under them good many days, but at last
the blistcring process commenced and he
now comes to the 'front.' We give his reply
in full. We had charged that he used the
postonice department in 1881 TO promote his
own interests, and that tho government paid
out 100000 solely to boom the Philadelphia
Press. 70 this "Charlio" thus replies 1--WE
give the article ontiro):
The republican newspapers of character and
standing throughout the country are unanimous
IN rcbukimg aud dcnounCng the offensive per-
iormanCuS uf Mr.. Frank Hatton. II was pro-
ccoding Of very doubtful nature whom ho took
charge Of TIE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN. That paper
had been the property aud the champion OF the
star route thieves and 1t remained unchanged i'll
spirit and association. Tho iaot that while the
government wa prosecuting the postal plunder-
ers the first assistant postmaster general should
identity himself with the plunderers organ was in
itself public scandal.
But that is not all. Not only has Mr.. Hattons
paper never had aught to say against the star route
cOnspirators, not only has oil its influence been
derided the measures and tendencies Of the re-
publican party. Everybody understands that
Mr. Hatton, In his personal tastes and bent, Is
simply machine politician. But Mr. Ilatton as
editor Of paper which processes TO speak for the
administration aud Us second officer of the post
Office department owes something to official pro-
prety and public deCoucy Yet he has defended
every attempt to perpetuate old abuses, and both
In his paper and In his own individual uttoranGes
In ,1,s u,,I at tINA snf
civil service reform which the republican party
has undertaken and which the President has ap-
proved.
1t remains for the President and the postmaster
general to consider what Is due to themselves and
TO the high trust committed to their charge. II
Mr.. Hatton were n private individual his utter
nnces would possess no importance But when the
first assistant postmaster general haunts his con-
temptuOus defiance in the face of the professions
and the pledges of the administration and the
party, it brings reproach upon both President
Arthur and Judge Gresham should either make
the young man miudful of what Is due to them
and to common proprcty or make him get out.
The reader cannot fail to be satisfied with
the thoroughnoss of Mr.. Smiths vindication.
The connection between the charge and the
reply may at first appear a little obscure, but
tho more one reads it tho more he will see
that the swindle of three-quarters of million
of dollars by Smith becomes entirely justif-
able when it is considered that Mr.. Hatton is
not q civil service reform shouter. If Mr.
Hatton had not taken charge of THE Ma
TIoNAL REPUBLICAN,, "a proceeding of very
doubtful nature" in ITSELF then perhaps Smiths
corrupt diversion of the public funds might
have been the subject of just complaint. The
"public scandal" attendant on the purchase of
Gen. Brady's interest in this paper by syn
dictate of irreproachable gentlemen and abso-
lutte strangers to Brady, and the subsequent
selection OF tho first assistant postmaster r
general as its general manager puts much
better look on Charlie Smiths wholesale
plumber of the government by coarse postal
fraud year before than it would otherwise
have. But sufficient as these things might
be to vindicate Charles Emory Smith in the
by him Of tho postofIice department,
he will emerge from his fiery
ordeal like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abodnego
all combined, when it is added that Hatton
has been an "indcpondent in that he has
"assaled and derided the measures may
and even the tendencies of the republican
party" Tho solicitudo of Smith for the party
and his papers horror Of q wicked independ
ent like Hatton, who fails in party sub
serviency, is enough to bring tears to thC
eyes of u savage, and would justify Smith i
he had got away with ten times the swat
derived by his well-wrought steal of $780, ,00t
from the treasury. But, again. of what usI
like Charles L. Smith can be interferod with
while "lifting" a few hundred thousand dol
lars from the treasury and held to public con
tempt by nero machine politician like
Frank Hatton, who arrogantly keeps hi
hands in his own pockets, and thus tries to
lord it over reform kleptomaniacs merely be-
cause he happens not to be one himself.
The public will admire the stolid insensi-
billty Of Smith and his splendid fortitude
under disgrace. Few men could be caugh
as no has been with tho sheop on his back
as it were and yet proudly demand the pun
ishment of the principal prosecuting wit
ness. Tho immortality of exposing a fraud
aud humbug like Smith, by ono over
whom Smith admits his own vast superiority
cannot fail to impress both tho President and
the postmaster general and tho wave ofSmith's
hand should suffice to impede tho progress OF
investigation, and to blast the culprt who hal
dared to say that Smiths corruption and dis.
honesty is just as Objectionable as though he
were not roformer.
Mr., Smiths inability TO discover in him.
solf anything wrong is not new element in
tho particular realm of human depravity to
which he belongs. He is of the class de-
scribod as unconscious hypocrites, of whom
James Anthony Froude in his essay on Grey
naTd the Fox" thus diScourses
ofall unsuccessful men in every sen se eithe
divine or human or deyilsh, there is none equa
to Bunyans Mr., Faclng-Both Ways-the fello,
with one eye on heaven and one on earh.-wh
sincerely breaches one thing and sincerely doe
another; and from the intensity Of his unredlhy
unable either 10 see or feel the contradiction
Serving God with his lips, and with the half OF hi
mind which is not bound up in tho world, an
| serving the devil with his apuon,