The Washington critic., 1886-02-06

he was hurt. Weed hated Greeley.
lie wrote q letter TO Thomas G. Acton
in 1910, which was a very bitter attack,
and he is careful In his autobiography
hardly to mention Greeley at all in con
ncction with public events You can
imagine how valuable q book on New
York politics and politicians must be
which virtually ignores the famous
T'ribgBc editor. Weed bitterly re
sented the growing fame of all the
New York City newspaper men.
"Whon did Weed reach his highest
pointg" "In the convention which
first nominated Lincoln. After that he
ceased TO be very much of factor
The war lifted the country out of its
provincalisms, and after two or three
years of it the small men shrunk to
their proper sizes. Weed reirogradcd
after Stewards defeat for the Prcsidcn-
tial nomination, while Seward grew. \
sham of intimacy was kept up between
them TO the end, but there was little
sincerity in 1t. After the war Weed
retired TO his shell and became Mes
tor, only coming out once In while to
write spiteful letters about better peo
pie than he was lie was Forncy
sort of man, with more force than
Forney, however. AS politician,
though, he was very shrewd. There
were few mon kcencr than he was to
see a point His advice upon what to
do in convention was thoroughly
good. lie believed absolutely in the
machine and held that the spoils were
necessary 10 keepup political organi-
zation. In everything relating TO poll
tics he was exceedingly practical" "
#~s
1t is now accepted in many quarters
that Mr.. William Henry Hurlbcrt, for
merly editor of the New York World,
wrote the savage attack on Secretary
Bayard which recently appeared in the
North AmortcaB Reciew over the sigma
turc of arthur Richmond. A special
to the GJuphio says: "Tow was the
authorship of the scrced known? Mr..
lIurlberts pcculiarities of style pro-
| truded through every paragraph of it.
] may state that Mr.. Manton Marble as
well as Mr.. Bayard recognized the ear.
marks instantly. Mr.. Hurlbert seems
10 have purposely and ostentatiously
paradcd his mannerisms and tricks Of
diction, doubtless TO discloseshis iden-
tity TO all who could perceive 1t. Then,
too, Mr.. Dana bestowed significant
amount of editorial notice on the
TRADE at the very time when he was
engaging Mr.. Hurlbert to take charge
of the SUMS cable correspondence.
Above and beyond these differences,
however, it is fact that circumstances
and incidents were mentioned in the
| article which nobody except Mr.. Hurl-
burt was familiar with. One tell tale
allusion dealt with something that had
occurred at Colonel Duffy's annual
| Farmers Dinner in Pennsylvania, and
that alone would have established the
identity of the writer. But what u
spiteful waste of ammunition 1t was" 3"
~
Says "Fleetquill' of the Troy Times:
The debates of the past few days have
brought out Representative John H.
Reagan as one of the master minds of
Congress. Mr., Reagan is seventy
years of age, but in all save his voice
he is still a powerful man. He has
had an active and important public ca
reer. Old readers know him best as
the Postmaster General of the Con.
foderacy. The old man was wrong on
the secession idea, but is so thoroughly
right on some of the questions of to-
day that all who meet him learn to re-
spect and admire. The young north
crn fellows occasionally twit him of
the past, but he generally gets back at
them in an effective manner He has
been resident of Texas since 1889.
~
| The same correspondent says Gen.
eral Sparks is reforming the abuses of
the land department with good deal
of vigor. He found the affairs of the
Office in n very bad condition and did
not hesitate to say so. He thinks Mac
farland honest, but says he did little or
nothing to check the pilfering in con
nection with Government land. A
great deal of the public domain was
literally stolen during MNcfarland' S
term. The eXCommissioner rctaliates
upon Sparks by calling him q crank,
fabricator and one thing and another.
The fact is not generally understood,
but the Interior Department is the bust
est of any under the Government. The
business in connection with the Pen
sion, Land and Patent offices is mar
vclous in extent and complicated almost
| bevOnd comprehension.