The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-12
Who is Greatest?
Continued from Page one.)

included i'm the term scholastic learn
| ing, Mr.. Gladstone had doubtless more
distinction than any modern states
| man who was SO eminent in his times.
| For ! do not rank Goethe in the class
! Of great statesmen. though he like
| ChaucCr was Il statesman And the
! far greater Richelieu, while a scholar
| and a writer, was not in those rela-
| tons pre-eminent as he was in state
craft. Sir Thomas More was able as
scholar and as statesman. But he was
! hardly so capable in the latter respect
as in the field of literature His
| Utopia will be remembered longer
| than his troublous ministry under
that bloody Tudor. Henry the Eighth.
! OF all English and all great European
modern statesmen. William Ewart
| Gladstone seems to me to have been
| the most widely renowned literary
+! man and scholar. His work on
| Homers age i have not read, but
! some of his periodical essays and his
| tranSlat ton of Horace have afforded
| delight to me for many hours.
! great writer. a great orator and n
| great leader of his party. No such
| man has appeared in Europe since
/ Pitt. the younger. Unlike most Other
men his genius flowed in his very old
age He belonged to the class to
which Or. Franklin and Goethe and
| Won Rouke helongcd--Whom age
could not withcr. They were young III
| heart and intellect 10 the last of
| long life. Between Jefferson ana
| Gladstone there was contrast rather
| than parallel at most points. The
| WEIGH Englishman of Virginia Vas
! literary man Of a certain type. His
style was more ornate than that Of the
Scotch Englishman of England. lIis
| political philosophy was for the larger
portion Of his life more radical than
Mr.. Gladstone's. The latter beginning
| as a Tory and High Churchman be-
came u Liberal in politics and APP
proximately Low Churchman in re-
| lgiou He broadened as he grew old
or. Clothed with Presidential au-
thority Mr.. Jefferson modified his
opinions on some Fundamental aues-
tons, but | do not say he became
more conservative on account OF age.
The tradition in the country is that
John Quincy Adams was the most
learned and literary of American
sta tesfncn. This may be literally tru:
and yet | shall offend against The
truth of history by including the
second Adams Che WAS the third,
Samuel being first, John second), in
the category Of the illustriouS who
have shone as both writer's and politi-
cians TO my mind Jefferson. with
less classical learning and less exact
ness in some other respects, was II
greater writer because greater
thinker than John Quincy ADAMS. He
was statesman of almost the very
highest grade. / should place him
! after Pericles and after Richelieu--
types of the popular and the dcSpotic
statesman. respectively. His large
work OF the assertion of the Rights OF
British America in the beginning Of
the Revolution. his part in the De-
claratiou. of Independence and parts
in Virginia in obtaining religious fret
dom and the broadening of the educa-
ttoual basis place him alongside thoGe
, early Attic statesmen. Scion and
k.cistheues. II was not the first
American Democrat. but he moulded
Democracy in The United states. Less
wise than Mason. more creator than
Madison, he was better fitted for a
national field than the former and
LOGS qualified than the latter his fol-
lower, for promulgatinG systems or
politv in formal treaties. His grand
work was in his correspondence. ana
IN q few OF his state papers, Madisona
part in the Federalist and his tremen-
dous argument for States Rights In
his report in the Virginia Legislature
on the resolutions of 80, aud perhaps
the most wonderful products except
Calhoun's Treatise on Government OF
any American statesman.
/ can make no comparison between
Madison and any European statesman
OF his time. With Fox IL was iinpos-
siblc because he had none of FoXS
lnaStcrful debating qualifications and
Fox none of his publcist's temper aud
philosophy A parallel With Burke or
Pitt or Sheridan would be equally Inn
proper, for obvious reasons. Madison.
! maintain, did not develop his best
thinking powers until later life aud
Chen in his old age he tossiliZed. Pos.
sibly there is something Of % com
parison between the Earl Of Shell
hi I IL M
slider it worth worl.fng out.
The most dazzling office under the
government Of tho Ufi!cd states is Of
course the Presidency. But the next
n order not rs q foreigner might
expect. either the Vice Presidency or
the Chief Justiceship. II is tho Speak
crHnip OF the House Of Representa-
tives. IT was not 50 in the bcginuihE
when TIC second Office in nominal VAS
the second Office in real work. The
difference has arisen Out Of q number
Of circumstance which cannot for OBJ
yious reasons. receive full considera-
ton here. The old idea of the fathers
ot the republic Mas 10 vote for the
two greatest or best suited men in the
whole country for the two offices, the
one receiving The highest vote TO be
President, the other 10 be Vice Presi-
dent. This resulted in the choice OF
George Washington for the South and
John Adams for tho North. The other
and greater Adams. the Puritan
Father Of tie EcyoIution, would
have been selected but for his
unpopularity with some Of the
Southern members Of the old Fedora
ton Congress. He was u rigid Demo
GRAFT OF the straightest state rights
school and the intimate friend of the
brilliant Richard Henry Lee OF Nir-
giuia. The choice OF Jefferson as Vice
President under Adams Presidency
again illustrated the idea. Hamilton,
by his foreign birth, was excluded
Jcferson's party was not yet in the
ascendant. 1t was deemed wise to
pcrpctuate the roll of the leaders who
had secured the notification OF tho
Constitution and who We're responsible
10 the world for its administrations
When, IL 1900. the people, tired OF
tho cnormitics of the Federal party,
retired 1t forever from control OF
tho government and The GREG. leaders,
Hamilton and Adams. quarrelcd. there
was no further hope for that naughty