Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1838-06-19

pretences in the ordinary transactions Of life,
justify all stratagems played off for the purpose
Of mending the fortunes Of lettering party.
# such be the doctrines you extract nom your
bible, you are the worthy tool Of the secret unto
who by the aidaof the aanctimoniOus counte.
nance Of a preacher, hope to give an air Of
honesty to the most fragrant outrage upon the
elective franchise.
Sir, the time has been when mankind were
easily duped by the seeming sanctity Of spi-
ritual adviser, but it was a time of ignorance
when au0rice and vanity could effect their OBJ
jet behind the veil Of the sanctuary But IN
modern tunes wealth and popularity have be-
come the objects of such general pursuit, that
the meek ambassador of the gospel who yields
20 the temptation of the one or the other, must
condescend to pursue the prize amidst multi
tude OF competitors. The sacerdotal vestments
OF parson who runs for the prize in so COM
mon a highway, win become soiled with the
dust, loose their purity, and consequently their
influence upon the public mind. You and your
friends of the secret council deceive yourselves,
If you think that the mere fact of your being
preacher, viii hide from the knowledge and IN
dignation of the public, the stratagem by which
you hope to win for your party, an easy victory
in the approaching election. The secret has
already been whispered abroad, that the Sc
cret rulers Of your party in Columbus, have re-
solved to make desperate effort to mend its
fortunes IN the county of Lowndes. By those
secret rulers (rumour says) that it has been re-
solved, that an election must be had. For the
purpose of creating necessity for an election,
some member Of the Legislature must resign
his seat. and the Governors writ of election
must be had. The resignation of the member
must be kept profound secret from all but the
file leaders of the party, who are to be secretly
but busily engaged In setting the party in order
for the election. The public are TO be favoured
with the knowledge of the resignation and OF
the election only by the Sheriff 5 notice of the
time and place of holding the election. Thus
the wing party viii be taken by surprize, and
defeated before they shall have learned that a
battle was to be fought. You, sir, have the
honor of being the instrument by which this
plan is to be effected. You Gas rumour says)
accordingly resigned your seat in the Legisla-
ture more than month ago and you have ad-
hered to the secrecy enjoined as faithfully as the
difficulty of keeping the, secret by giving eva
sive answers to direct questions would allow
The plan presents another very important fea.
are a large stakeholder and a director in 2
banking institution,and public Indignation (whe.
ther rightfully or wrongfully it is In this case
wholly unimportant) has been excited against
banks, and directors have been deemed unfit tC
hold seats In the General Assembly. This diff
fculty must ofnecessity be avoided, and hence
the resolution; that you must make virtue O
necessity and resign or pretend to resign you
seat as director out of pure love and affection
for the dear people, Your attachment to thai
darling bank, is well known from the zeal which
you displayed in its behalf In the last Legisla
ture, to be fixed upon the firm basis of self
interest. The love which you profess for tht
people, whichso easily overpowers your attach
ment to that institution, is too warmly spicet
with romance, to be readily reciprocated b,
the people. The people, like timid damsel c
; wealth, always suspects that romantic affectio
grows out gilmore substantial attractions tina
those of the person. If the people were ca
!, pable of approaching romantic affection, Yo
!. would not be driven to the necessity of effect
ling clandestine union. But you must tax
i them as they can, and you must give them sal
isfactOry proof that you are in earnest whe
you abandon the bank for the love of the pet
,, ple;-you must satisfy them that your RESIGN;
ton of the dictatorship is not mere Temporal
:, resignation, and that you have no expectatic
T ofresuming your place in the board after yc
= have accomplished your purpose;-you mu
u satisfy them that you do not wish to impose u
h on them by false pretences. And in doing S
;. you must explain why it was necessary th
. your resignation should be proclaimed in IL
Il columns of the Democrat, since the natural il
e ference is, that it must have been intended f
= effect;-yOu must also explain aohy you pc
- nnitted yourself after you had resigned your Sc
y in the Legislature, to be elected a director TT
Is natural inference growing out of this fact,
that you intend to hold on to your directorshil
that your resignation of it, is only Temporal
and that you intend to resume it so soon as ~
hare accomplished yOur object.
e WING.