New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-20
DANG EROUS PRECEDENT

Admiration has been made 10 the Pope on
behalf of the late lamented Christopher Columbus
for the title of venerable At first sight
il may seem that no objection can possibly lie
AGAINST the bestowal of this recognition beyond
the obvious consideration that it is somewhat
,nrdv II may indeed be said thai this samc
hardness is rather intimately associated with the
career of the renowned Christopher, who was
rr fused redress in his last days by the KING
who. seven years after the discoverer's death,
caused beautiful acknowledgment of his achieve
ments to be inscribed upon his tomb But to
the reflective mind there are some serious dangers
and disadvantages in the course proposed TO the
Popc In the first place, the practice OF neglect
ing great men while they are alive is not likely
IN be discouraged by the inception OF plan for
rewarding their memories, so to say, three or
four hundred years after they are dead. 1t would
have been practically useful 70 Christopher
Columbus if the title venerable had been
bestowed upon him by the head of his church
while he was still in tho land Of the living.
II is questionable whether at the present tme
he is likely TO derive any benefit from the sug
gestcd elevation.
Nor is this the only objection TO the proposed
course. Factions among living people ana con
cerning living people are and always have been
sufficiently mischievous, and any measure Is 70
be deprecated which threatens to aggravate TINS
kind OF trouble by introducing disputes over the
claims of the dear departed to social and political
honors It is quite clear that if Columbus Is
thus singled out for promotion, the friends oil
Left Eriksen, already enthusiastic and I'M
compromising enough, will take fire at the as
sumed indimity to the discoverer they swear by !;
and nothing will satisfy them short of the be-
stowal upon the gallant Northman of at least as
good a title. If the Pope is dignitary who
looks before and after" he must shrink appalled,
from the prospect Of having TO sustain the alter
nate charges of the rival claimants indefinitely
for that is what he would be subjected to. III
would not help him, either, to declare Left Erksen
equally venerable with Columbus, for IN that
case the friends and champions of the latter
would insist upon another step for their man,
and so the battle would swing back and forth
till the crack of doom, or until all the possible
combinations of post-mortem titles had been ex
hausted.
Add 10 this the consideration that Christopher
Columbus no more stands in need OF title oil
any kind than does George Washington IFS
memory does not require handle OF any khd,
and it, would be work OF suIererogatIon To
label him, no matter with what good motives
Painting the lily has always been regarded as
something worse than waste Of time, and deco
rating the name of Columbus after the manner
proposed would be directly in that line. Besides
when we reflect upon the immense number OF
living men who are fairly suffering for the hok
of titles, and who would do almost anything law
full in order 70 secure one, we cannot but consider
n proposal to promote ffteenth-century celebrity
as calculated to evoke the widest and most UNI
tanned jealousy and evaporation among the UNI
titled yearners after fame. 1t is. therefore, our
candid if unsolicited, advice to the Pope to go
Slow in this matter, and to do nothing without
carefully considering the quantity and extent OF
angry passions liable TO be unclaimed and put IN
working order by his approval of the lncendlary
and sinister proposition made to him.