The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-14
To BE Continued
IRON PUISAM's NAGAzGNE-BY PERMISSION
GENERAL OGLE-A CHARACTER.
BY DR.. WILLIAM ELDER. OF PHILADELPHIA

[PRoM PUTSAM's MAGAzrNE-BY PERNIssIoNl
GENERAL OGLE-A CHARACTER.
| BY DR.. WILLIAM ELDER. OF PHILADELPHIA.
| lCoECLUDER1
| @Now, | have few words to say that
| don't want you to forget. Turnpkes. canals
| and railroads must be made, whether they run
| in front of your cabin doors or not. These
| mountains must be tunnelled those valleys
must be paved-must be- and will be. so
| don't let any of those miserables, who some
times get themselves into your Legislature, set
| YOU against the necessity which is upon you
making fools of you, and scoundrels of them
selves, by pretending that they will tighten
| your taxes and reduce the State debt. lt is
YOUR opposition that will make your taxes
heavier and still will not prevent the inevita.
BILE march of public improvement. Support an
enlightened system of public works and choose
honest aud capable representatives - choose
gentlemen, and give the snobs the cut direct
In the compromises and accommodations OF
conflicting policies, which must take place at
the seat of Government nothing will save a
man but sound instincts and high personal
| qualities For rough roads take sure-foOted
nag, though he be little headstrong and hard
in the mouth. | never prophesied unto you
| smooth things; ! never daubed you with I'M
| tempered mortar; and | never betrayed your
| trust in half century of public service.
Finally, until every man is as wise as his
neighbor, and as good as he oUght'to be, you
must be governed by the ma orty, and that
necessity will divide you into parties--two par
ties, mind ye or one, and a parcel of frag-
ments. Now, the greatest of these will have
the power in its hands, of course. How will
you mend it. when it goes wrong? By draw
ing off into as many little squads as there may
happen to be differences of opinion among
you? This will only strengthen the party
that you are trying to control. The Aopntain
springs refresh the lakes by flowing into them,
not by running off into multitude Of puddles,
to stagnate in the sun Parties must be built
upon general views and broad policies. Organ
ize as you may upon transient and trivial con-
tingenoiss it is all fuss and foolery A party
with anything positive in il will outlive its own
! abuses and your grumbling; or if the real ma
ority of the nation is too corrupt to purify it.
self it will not be improved by changing its
channel. The judgment day divides the world
into two classes only, one right and one wrong.
Do you think you can make asbetter or moro
accurate division My dear fellow-citizens,
don't be caught starting aside after every vag-
abond fancy that inspired idiots can scare up.
Within the proper party of truth and progress
will DO found all the available means of reform
that political agencies can ever effect. Jonah
withdrew in fit of disgust, because the Lord
would not destroy kineveh for its corruption,
and sheltered his indignant head under gourd
that grew up in a single night, and OF course
persisted in q night; whereupon he wished
himself dead, and tainted outright. Better
bear your small per ceDtage of your neighbors
sins and blunders till they are cured, than curse
the world and quit in passion. IL ID gooa
enough for you to do your duty IN, ana TOO
good to be condemned as long as it Is getting
better.
"Pm done; for don't jump of the stage OF
stump, like the pony in o travelling menagerle
through a blazing hoop; and ! wouldn't wn,n,
a diving doxology TO my speech, 1t knew tha
il was the last that should eyer make 10 yo'
in the flesh. | will speak To you from my grave
NV voice will echo from these hills as long q
the truth of my life is of any use to you ant
YOU are worthy of it. Wherever am-her'
among you, or there above YOU'LL be DOM
my duty and minding my own business-g
home, and mind yours"
| Saints and savages are much more slmpl
compositions than the pivot men of practca
| affairs even the heroes and enthusiasts o
most frequent occurrence in history are easil,
comprehended, for they are orderly and con
sistent in their movements, under the pressure
of their siugleness of impulse and steady con
centrativeness of drift. A man governed b
one monopolist passion and devoted to on
absorbing object, works in his vocation like
machine, and is no more wonder or puzzl
than fire or water in their grandest styles 0
operation; but those complex and intricat
combinations of manhood whose elements ar
remarkable at once for their energy and dive
lent tendencies, like the multiform ingredient
of vegetable and animal organisms, are as di
icult of analysis as of integral activity an
consistency. The faculties of such man o
General Ogle, each strong enough in its natr
raj force, and all sufficiently varied and numel
| GUS to furnish dozen monomaniacs with el
travagsnce, or dozen heroes with inspiration
present most difficult subject for speculation
and when kept in constant eiferyescenee by a
active life in rude society, afford q mixture {
results not easily reconciled He is not to b
measured by the standard Of common live
nor csn his actions be safely resolved into el
amples for ordinary mems conduct Thing
coniormable and manageable enough in hi,
| would be monstrous in men OF more parts
J make, and with less balancing energy. Eve
in his own best days a strong impulse arouse
by critical emergency often ran beyond il
proper limits, and overleaped the boundaries {
rule 80 that nothing less than the reaction {
his own great reserve forces might restore hiI
10 rcctitude and order. AT high tides in tn
current in more than one instance, one or al
other Of the provisions of the decalogue WI
temporarily submerged; and the trespasses
the patriarchs and prophets got On occasions
} rehearsal In the excuses and misadvcntures
hs life. And in tho end when age and eli
cumstances conspired against him-when h
natural strength abated, and his surrounding
fell into general dislocation--his instincts an
! appetites, like the chemical forces which con
into play a. the vital energies decline, assume
, the government the strength Of his noblcr nj
ture failed, and his sun set under cloud
; darkness.
At seventy.five years Of age the coarse excit
ment and wild illusions Of inebriety replace
! the healthy activities which had been the Vel
, wine of life in his better days. The busiest o
cupation, the most perilous risks, the heave
Z responsibilities of his eventful experience, hs
< ! neyer oute satisfied his great pecesyties al