The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1851-09-04
Hon. Il. S. Foote.

we Inverted LAST cell 70 Tie Yindietiye
spirit with which this distinguished gentle
man has been pursued, as illustrated in the
lpitifui charge which is frequently made that
he owns no property in this State
4 That Gen. Foote'S public course is . legit-
innate subject Of even rigid Investigation no
body viii deny The legislature Of Miissis-
lsippiat its late extraordinary session settled
that matter, if it settled no other. They not
only censured his course but went as far as
they safely could to impeach the motives of
his conduct. This is an issue upon which
Foote has appealed, as he had right to do,
to the people The worthy business of stig-
matising the character Of this public servant
has been left to the small politicians and or
ators who seek by any and all means to de-
stroy his claims for even relic of honesty or
patriotism. To effect their purpose some of
them are very fond Of the charge to which
we allude What, or where Gen. Foote's
property may be, or whether he has any at
Iall, we do not propose to inquire. That is a
matter which neither concerns us, nor inter-
ests the people, We do demonstrate howev-
Ter, against all such inyidious and humanity
references to the private affairs of public men
for the unworthy purpose Of assaulting their
reputation and honor.
How intolerant, how uncharitable, how
unwise arc such arguments as these against
Gen. Foote They should and will rocoil on
those who use them, & the party which abets
them in it, and this anti-republican charge of
poverty should and will rally to the side Of
this distinguished senator every man who
feelshe is poor and yet honest.
Sidney Smith said ono man in England
was entitled to an opinion unless he had at
least three thousand pounds year" This
may be true in England, but we are not pre-
pared to believe that our country has yet
reached that degraded condition, that man
must stand upon handsome estate Of his
own, before he can speak the words of truth
and wisdom, or dare to assume the name of a
patriot.
Nor have We SO read history, as to draw
from it any such conclusion as is implied in
this charge against Gen. Foote The purest
statesman, the most disinterested patriot of
antiquity, he, who, alone of all mankind in
all ages, was Provcrbially called "The Just, "
the Athenian Aristides, although he had the
handling of immense sums Of the public mo-
noy, lived poor, and died so poor that he had
to be buried at tie public erpense. Many of
the greatest and ablest men of those days
were likewise poor. In more modern times,
William Pitt, the great statesman, the still
greater orator, and the adorcd patriot who
welded unbounded sway over the finances
and the destines of his country, lived with
out fortune, and died embarrassed, leaving
his debts to be paid by grateful people af-
ter his death. His great rival, the noble,
the eloquent, the magnanimous Charles j.
Fox, whose purity and elevation of character
none ever questioned, was, through much of
his publid1ife, indebted to the bounty of his
: friends for the means Of support. So hash
usually been with great men, and particular
~ great and poor statesmen in every age and
in every country. A Cardinal RichiHeu, a
Cardinal Mazarin, and Cardinal Wolsey
| were wealthy. But they constitute an ex-
ception to the majority Of great statesmen,
and what their character was we know. But
: why refer to examples? Away with this in
sulting, degrading impeachment of the mo-
tives and integrity Of honest poverty! Let
9 it never be insinuatcd again in public as
sombly in republican country, even though
e it be necessary to ruin a political foe, that a
statesman must be wealthy before he can be
sincere and patriotic.
Why the very thing the Chartist or repub-
E lican party are contending for in England, at
this time, together with universal suffrage, is
the right to have members of Parliament paid
! outof the public treasury, that they may oh.
: tain by that means the privilege Of choosing
4 poor men for their representatives in Parlia
ment, instead of being chiefly confined in
their selection, as they arenow, tothe wealthy
But the thousand and one speakers, who
! with an untiring zeal, a relentless fury, and
i an imphcable hatreed which has no parable
G in modern political history, seem determined
IS to hunt Gen. Foot, to the death, are for re
!. YerSing the onward march of republicanism
and are contending for the very aristocrati,
+ monopoly which the republicans Of Europ,
IS are striving to overthrow
ANOTHER EXPEDITIONS. The N. Yorl
! journal Of Commerce, Of the 18Th ult, con
tains the following paragraph