New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-07-28
AN EMBfTTERED MARTYR.

There is no spectacle in life more saddenlng
than failure when 1t hardens down in obstinate
self-approval and vindictiveness. Defeat may
bring its pangs and bitternesses: yet the world
will always Judge as lacking in true character
the man who finds in his misfortunes no soften
ing and mellowing aftertaste. Put TO thls
simple test the Democratic Presidential candl-
date of 1896 and 1900 falls pitifully short OF
any sane ideal of ripened wisdom or chasteneo
confidence The enormous sacrifices twice maze
by the Democratic party to further MS per-
sonal ambitions seem able TO stir in him no
sense of gratitude or magnanlmity- he can
neither forget nor forgive the enmites WITHIN
the party which aided in his overthrow. Inc
only role in which he chooses TO disclose MINI
self is that of wakeful and watchful martyr
dom-the patient wait and vigil long OF MIN
who treasures up wrong, and who lntenos III
time to avenge himself on the authors anu
abettors of his downfall.
For some months past Colonel Bryan's public
utterances have betrayed an increasing vindic-
tireness. The reply he made to Mr.. Cleveland's
harmony" speech before the Tilden Club was
marked by a bitterness of personal abuse to
which he had seldom before descended. But
AT Nantasket Beach on Thursday he dubbed
over with fresh vehemence and fury, repeating
and enlarging the anathemas flung at the TIL
den Club Recommendations them as
spoilers" lions and foxes yelled "aristo-
Gratis" who left the Democratic ranks in 1895
because they knew what the issue was, and
who. knowing what the issue was, "can never
come back until they change without hurting
THE party"
But not alone in his unappeasable hostility to
any scheme of party uni1ication which does
not sustain and vndicate his own disastrous
leadership does Colonel Bryan uncover his in
ability to profit by the SOLDERING lessons OF ex-
perience. In his Nantasket speech he descends
again to the basest level of his old appeals 10
class jealouses and class prejudces. He re-
wives and Celebrates his arraignment Of the
Republican party the party of "aristocracy.
plutocracy and greed"-the party of those who
have been alenated from the common people
.'hy the possession of great wealth, and Of those
"who, although without wealth, pander to 1t and
measure all things by the money standard"
Such demagogic rawlings show the Nebraska
orator in perhaps his most congenial. but GER
tainly in his least effective or inspiring, mood.
By his own confessions the farmer-editor of
Lincoln has pandered more successfully TO the
money standard in the last six years than have
any ninety nine out of a hundred members OF
the party of "greed and plutocracy" which he
berates with so much fustian. Certainly II
prosperity be a crime Colonel Bryan can as
easily be indicted as an "aristocrat' as any or
the "lions and foxes" it is his selfish and hypo-
critical mission to Danish from the Democratic
fold. DR.. Johnson once said that patriotism
was the last refuge of scoundrel. Colonel
BRYAN can hardly blame his countrymen IL they
consider his latest campaign cry, THE aristo-
Gratis TO the lamppost.' as the last refuge Of an
embittered and discredited demagogue