Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-08-20
A Mississippi Appointment

On the 2Sth of last month William NJ.
Hancock was suspended" from the Of
fee of postmaster at Meridian, Miss. On
the same day one ]. ]. Shannon was ap-
pointed to succeed him. The place was
not taken away from Mr.. Hancock on
charges affecting either his integrity or
his efficiency as public servant. He
was removed because in government
Of the people by the people through the
means of political parties he had been
not supine but an active party man.
The administration accused him of the
high crime and misdemeanor of being
an offensive partison, and so cut off his
head.
But if the putting out of Hancock
was inexcusabls, the putting in of Shan
non deserves to be characterized by a
much harsher term. 1t was an unmiti-
gated outrage. Shannon is one of the
editors and proprietors of The Mercury,
daily newspaper published at Meridi'
an, whose un-American, unpatriotic
character is thoroughly exposed in its
treatment of the death of Gen. Grant.
The following are extracts from an edit
torial article in The Mercury:
Grant is dead. And that is the sehsa+
tton of the hour, and we do not under>
stand why it should be, for men born to
die are always dying. 1t is no novelty
for great or little man to die, that all
men should cut up about it and be stand
ing on their heads. When a great and
good man dies, the world wants to make
a demonstration on the occasion to tes-
tify their respect because it presents the
last opportunity they can ever have.
There is something noble in the respect
the good pay to the good on such occar
sienS. 1t is as old as ancient literature
that it is not allowable to say anything
of the dead but good. Yet Byron wrote
it down when King George III. died:
''It is the mockery of hell to enfold
The rottenness of eighty years in gold.'
1t is safe to say there will be an i'm
mense amount of the same sort of mocks
cry on the present occasion. We wish
we knew something good to say of Grant,
now he is dead. We would so love to
say it. Grant was a brutal
commander and made no account of the
lives of his men he sacrificed. Napoleon
said the Lord was on the side of the par
ty that had the biggest cannon. Grant
believed the Lord was on the side of the
general who had the most men to sacri
flee in battle. And so it was he won in
the end, not by any display of military
science, but by getting the most men
killed in battle.
Only Thursday morning, before the
sad tidings had reached US, we were med
iating on one of Grants epigrams, as+
cribed to him as being said toward the
latter period of the war. He said the
Confederates had robbed the cradle and
the grave to recruit their wasted armies.
Some fools have repeated it as some
thing smart. On the contrary, to the
refined mind, under the circumstances,
it is exceedingly coarse and vulgar, and
like Grant was himself-a coarse and
vulgar man with coarse and vulgar
thoughts. Grant is dead. We
have no tears to shed; but may the ru,
lers in Heaven be kind TO his soul.
There is no occasion to characterize
the use of such language over the fallen
head of the brave, generous, modest SOL
dier at. whose bier all Christendom is
weeping. Out of his own mouth this
new Democratic postmaster is convicted
of being an offensive partisan-not an
offensive partisan in the ordinary sense
of the term. but public official who has
against public decency, who has wanton-
ly iasulted the Nation in its hour of bit
ter sorrow.
Is this man to be allowed to retain his
office? We shall see.-N. Y. Tribune.