The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-21
The dtlessengT.
ANOTHER EDITOR - VIEW OF THE
sIx GREATEST.

son. writes a column upon a recent ed
ltorial In the Messenger in which the
five foremost men in the state were
discussed, and a sixth one was present
ed as having no peer among men OF
equal or less advantages-all not more
than fifty years of age. We wrote al We
saw it. With us learning, culture, lit
erary style, genius, even, count for a
great deal. We did not undertake to
write of journalists or lawyers, as
we did not know enough Of ether
calling to write intelligently or
dogmatically. We know OF some
who have impressed US among the men
born. less than a half century ago.
Colonel Pearson estimates North Caro-
linians from an altogether different
standing-point from our own, and
names men for the first places to whom
1T would not occur to us to refer as of
a rank to sit with the others in States
Pantheon of immortals, if that be the
destiny of any. Doctors will differ" is
an old adage applicable to medical gen
Elemen. Editors differ, and even the
best critical minds in letters ~antagonize
yehemently as to authors-even as to
men Of supreme genius. We lately
read from a distin guished professor in
a northern university, as we'll as one
of the most aggressive and interesting
OF the critics, that Balzac, the French
novelist, was a greater genius than
Shakespeare. Another critic put him
far above Scott, T~hackeray, George
Eliot, Hugo, George Sand, Daudet and
the whole tribe Of novelists Of the
world. Others might name his equal,
or possibly his master. What we wrote
was not in antagonism to any one, or
from undue partially, Tor we have no
personal acquaintance with at least
two, and no special fondness for one
or two named. We essayed to be can
did, catholic in judgment, and to name
those who had impressed us above all
others. In but two instances could
any change Of person admiration and
affection hold good. We have surely
ne personal dislike to those named by
Colonel Pearson as his choice as the
ablest. We would judge men of u
state as we would judge men of letters,
according to merit as we discovered 1t,
without partiality or personal prejudice.
AS we said we pretend to no sort of in
fallibility in any thing. Some men i'm
press us by their fine culture, their
wide range of knowledge, their pro-
found learning, their beautiful n ar
tistic gifts$of mind, their wealth of
thought and their delightful style.
Such men must always rank high in
our opinion. They rise Immensely
above men learned in but one profession
.andf,not endowed with those faculties
of mind that make men memorable
above their fellows. In Boston the
great and famous men were the literati.
Such men as Rufus Choate had rare
gifts in oratory and rhetoric aside from
professional endowments.
We must admit that while we have
no personal antipathy to Senator
Pritchard, whom we have never seen,
we have abomination only for his po-
1itical principles, and selfish, partisan
manoeuvres. He has not struck us as
an intellectual and richly cultivated
man fit for companionship with Moore
and Taylor and Alderman. Possibly
we underestimate him. In politics as
they go now he seems to be a decided
success In craftsmanship we think
he has no rank. .
Colonel Pearson names as "the best
h~alf-dozen' the following:
ST. H. Busbee, F. M. Simmons, Geo.
Winston, Senator Pritchard, DR.. P. l..
Murphy, and Editor Caldwell of the
Observer. Judge Clark, Frank Os-
borne and j. S. Carr have recently
turned fifty years of age or we should
consider them. We much regret that
Editor Page is not in our list; we tried
to fetch him in but could not! If his
uncle, the Rev. Jesse, were a younger
man and the case had been his, we be-
Alieve u trouble would have been les
sened."
OF those mentioned we would not
hesitate a moment to say that Judge
Clark is the ablest, best furnished
and wisest. We have heard that Mr.
Osborne was highly gifted with almost
something of genius, but rather cratic
in judgment, and not a wise or safe
leader.
We had not the faintest desire or
purpose to depreciate his gifts. HE did
not occur to us, and he may be so roy
ally endowed as to be classified with
the five scholars and gifted men We
named. We did not write Of lawyers
because we know so little of the pres
o-A 49,. III --~z:IIxr H. -.n ,,-Iar