The news & observer., 1905-12-31
Monument to Editor N.
G. Gonzales.
(Continued from Page One)

personal attention and limited his sup
port of the Cuban cause to the lnIlu-
ence OF his forceful pen, no reasonable
man could have questioned the pro
priety of his course. For myselI, Iell
that the course he did pursue was not
justified by the circumstances. lie WAS
more needed here than there, ana TO
have his brilliant career terminated by
a Mauser bullet in a Cuban jungle
would have been a lamentable waste,
a. public calamity Thus 1 reasoned.
and so l considered his course any
thing but wise But n. G.. Gonzales
was not wise! The course he pursued
was characteristic of the man. l
doubted the wisdom-but l admired
the man in this as in many other in
stances of like character.
1 have marked the act as character
istic, by which / mean that though the
incident was a mere episode. the spirit
that found expression through 1t was
not episodic; it was the constant, uni
form spirit of the man. The severe
criticisms of his editorial course all
involve this. To establish this fact
beyond question we have only to recall
the emphatic declaration of his critics.
Was it not asserted or assumed over
and over again by those unfriendly
to him that when a man wrote as ne
did, he took his life in his hand
Was it not claimed with great vehem-
ence and insistence that such was the
universally recognized fact
Be it so then; we shall not quarrel
with the neutrality-suspicious. since
the event seems to have justified the
position. We shall refer to it only to
draw the inevitable irrefutable infer
ence-his enemies themselves being
judges-he was a consistently brave
man, physically brave, who constantly
risked danger and death without
fiinching.
Moral Courage.
But physical courage is universally
considered a lower form of this ad-
mirable trait What is his claim to
that higher form which men denomi-
nate moral courage? The spirit that
stands for ones conviction il the race
of criticism and condemnation, misun-
derstanding, misinterpretation and
Misrepresentation; that accepts CEN
sure where one Graves approval, blame
where one merits praise, abuse where
he deserves applause, and yet stands
steadfast to ones own conception of
duty. Had he the grit to espouse
and maintain the unpopular cause
No one who knew our lamented
friend can deny him the NEED of
this high praise; the possession and
the exercise of this nobler form of
courage was his abundantly: he made
this amply evident over and over again.
There were times when he stood al
most alone, and there may have been
instances in which he stood absolutely
alone, unsupported save only by his
own individual convictions of duty
and responsibility under the circum-
stances of his peculiar position, when
he proved himself ready to sacrifice
every personal advantage, yea far
more than this, to imperil the whole
fabric that he had been so long labor
ing to build UP under manifold diff
ficulties and diseouragements. There
could scarcely have been a more utter
ignoring of policy; he seemed never
for a moment to consider the effect
of his utterances upon his own person
al fortunes, or upon the success or
failure of his paper as a business en-
terprise. Often he must have penned
editorials in the certain knowledge
that he was alternating support by
the expression of his opinion. Some
times the probable result would be
the loss of a whole section. This was