Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-06-06
New York Evening Post.

Mean in Many Day."
New York Evening Post.
No estimate of the late Mr. Gtesham's
conduct of the State Department should
begin without weighing the enormous diff
culties which confronted him. The first
and greatest of these was the need oil. re-
covering for the department its ancient
and traditional American spirit aud policy.
In other words, he had TO lnde the
Generalization wrought directly by Mr..
Blaine, and indirectly, and perhaps still
more powerfully, by what maybe called
the Blaine legend. For there VIII always a
legendary Blaine coexisting with the real
Blaine. The real Blaine wandered far
enough from the precedentt set by
Webster, and Marcy, and SEWARD, and
Fish, but it was legendary adj unreal
Blaine v no did most of the mischief. The
real Blaine conducted the Italiih dispute
i'll correct and dignitied manner, and
knuckled under to Great Britain in the
Behring Sea matter gracefully enough
when the pinch came; and it wtS only the
imaginary Blaine who was alwlys taking
the hated foreigner by the bea1, making
stump speeches to lords and Iotentates,
AMI aiming the big guns. Built was the
latter personality that had dominated and
demoralized the State Department. filled
the heads of Eighty naval officers with
visions of war, and created and fostered
in weak and silly minds throughout the
country the idea that national greatness
meant national quarrelsomeness and
bluster.
To change all this and to walk in the
digniiisd ways of Evarts and Frelihghuy-
sch and Bayard was Mr.. Greshamb main
and most difficult task That he should
be ferociuusly attacked while essaying it
was inevitable. He was not only retersing
the Blaine policy, he was doing it as Re.
publican VINO had opposed Biains- was
, dong 1t, to fill up the cup of his inpquity,
as Republican under Democratic Presi-
dent. II took no gift of prophecy ID fore
see, and we presume that Mr.. Gresham
foresaw as clearly as anybody, that he
would be damned il he did and damned II
he didn't. The savage and senseless al
tacks upon him by the inheritors aud ex-
Founders of the Blaine legend could not
have surprised him, and apparently did
not disturb him. The very fury # his
assailants was their own undoing aid his
safety. American humor came 70 his
rescue, and refused to do anything except
smile at the supernatural imbecil.tyiand
consistently craven spirit OF the newspaper
Secretary of State.
Meanwhile the actual Secretary went on
his way, and fairly earned the praise be
slowed upon him by eminent juristsiand
experts in international law as the ablest
Secretary the country has had since Ham
ilton Fish. Equally deserving hts he
proved himself of the thanks of Aneri-
cans who see something to arouse national
pride in dignilied and courteous conduct
of our foreign relations. II is great
thing to have had two years of Secretary
who wrote his dispatches with his eve
wholly on the business in hand, with de.
sire chiefly to know what the facts and
what the law were, and TO state his views in
aquiet and genttemanly way INSTEAD ofone
who was always thinking. as he wrote.
how much his sass" of Lord SALISBURY
would tickle the mining camps and tue bar
rooms, and who thought that diplomatic
usage, maps, treaties, and international
law were all useless rubbish for an ebter.
prising statesman. Judged BY the inter-
national standard land that is the stand
ard by which Secretary Of State should
be chiefly judgedl, Mr. Gresham has been
great success and has made American
honor, capacity and courtesy mean more
IN the eyes of the world than they had
seemed to mean for many day.
BY the test, too, of actual accomplish
ment his two years service will rank with
any ike period for n generation. As his
professional maligners are, as usual. shy OF
the facts, it may BIO well to give succinctly
the list of his diplomatic achievements.
First Of these comes his scornful refusal To
profit BY fraud and collision in Hawaii,
and his high and firm assertion that there
was not one standard of honor for an indi.
vldual and another for a nation. That
action, IT IS safe to say, has given the hes,
minds of Europe, whose praise and good
opinion are worth any nations seeking, q
conception of the possibilities of a nice
| sense OF honor and Justice in Democracy
wholly new to them. Mr.. Gresham carried
successfully through the period of negotia-
ton and ratification a complicated and
important treaty with China Equally
important is his treaty with Japan, cover.
ing many Nexed questions of extraterri.
toriality aud citizenship. Through his
friendly representations Great Britain has
been induced finally and for ever to relin,
| qulsn her protectorate over the MOSQUITO
| coast, thus ending tedious controversy
! which has plagued the department from
the days of Marcy down. In all these
matters, and in his sharp rebukes, OF
American ministers whom our vicibu:
| political system had saddled upon him
and who were disxra0ing the country
abroad by their ignorance and indecence
| he has borne himself as one worthy of the
best traditions of his office.
HIS personal bearing has been excellent
| throughout. lie has mt been newspaper
! correspondents Secretary, aud hence, nc
| doubt the wounds, subject to weekly re
opening, which some Of them carry on
their persons. But in informing the public
of the state of negotiations and of the rea
| questions at issue, he has been frank, ane
has done good service in the cause of edu
eating the people IN International relation.
and regulations. His quiet circulation o.
| the text OF the Monroe doctrine, with ex
| plantations nt its origin and meaning, wa!
shrewd stroke,and certainly closed inanS
. Dlantant mouth All told, the work ht
dld even in the career now prematurel,
Closed was of a sort to win him the gooJ
| opinion Of all whose good opinion is Worti
having, and to mark him out as n mos
useful public servant. President CLEVELAND
VIII lind il hard, If not impossible Il
| OBTAIN u successor equal to him; but on,
thing can be and should he made certain
that his successor, whoever he NAV be
shall be man who, like MIR. Gresham
Will walk in the beaten and HONORABLE,
path OF American diplomacy, and not g,
| wandering in the by aud forbidden wayt
OF ignorant bullying that thinks itsel
craftsmanship.
Deafness Cannot he Cured