The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-08-17
Y OF DUBUQUE,
POLITICAL LIFE

We commend, with all sincerity, the follow
ing beautiful extraci-i.on recent address cl
B. Fl, Brewster, Esq, delivered before the
Literary Society OF Princeton College, New
Jersey,-to the attention Of young men just
starting in life and ambitious o. polit cal noto-
ricty and, deed, those older men who have
already embarked in the of political strife,
may persue it with advantage:
"The time was in the early history Of his coun,
try when great men were wanted i'll public pla-
ces to establish our institutions-good men are
needed now in the walks Of quiet life to strength
en- them All the world over, the trade of a
politician is the occupation Of gamester; it
is the business of man whose time is spent in
envy and strife. Public stations can confer no
rank and bring distinction to men who run
after them. All great public occasions COM
mand the men best fitted for the nece ssiles of
the times. The emergencies that incite great
men to action having passed by, tranquility hav'
ing been restored, order having been established,
new men-inferior men-men Of doubtful
parts-succeed to their masters, and manage
with ease, it not with skill, the vast machine
which wisdom created and industry set in mo.
ton. All history has afforded constant exam
pies Of this-our history may ye. do SO.
),
with mastery resolution, with power might.
ier than the storm, the power that binds the
storm-,he calm-plucked up,the crown of Eng.
land from the hedge wherein conending fac.
tons had flung it, established the Hanover rian
succession, suppressed conspiracy, quieted re-
lie ious discord, and secured that stability and
dignity 10 public affairs and, that repose to
private life, which nuftured strength of Eng
land, and gave her the power to resist world
in arms. With inhexible purpose he Suppress
ed all attempts to embroil his country in war,
and for twenty long years, as the first Minister
of the Crown, governed his country with heroic
will. He was succeeded by inferior men, but
when the exigencies of public life again requir
ed a man-the Pelhams gave way for Pitt
as politicians and placemen in this country must
hereafter give way for patriots and statesmen.
.'The highest public distinction in this coun
try can have no attraction for right minded men,
unless they are the unsought rewards Of per-
sonal worth, dignity of character, mental abIll-
ty and blameless life. Obtained in any other
way, they disgrace those who hold them. They
were intended TO be great honors, not rich sin
ecures. The compensation attached to the best
of them, will not equal the income that any
man can earn, who is fit TO hold them and dis.
charge their duties
''lf men crawl to high places by craft and
low contrivance--if they hold them at the cost
of all love Of truth and practice of heroic viz
tueif they accept stations which they are un
equal to, from want of proper training-from
want ofinformation and want Of mental capac-
ity, and which they hold like impostors aud
usurpers, pulled up with vanity, and merely
greedy for the pay of the place they are in
pory. Such adven,urers and serving men in
their masters clothes, will be laughed at and
expelled with sco7n by the misguided people
who exalted them to power to establish an
equality of vuglarity, ostentation, and wicked
ness. Let not this be your fate.
ssThus far the great men Of this land have,
with reluctance and humility, received the dig.
mites their countrynen have bestowed upon
them.
s'Washngton, and Jefferson, and Jackson
never stopped to solicit place CT accepted it as
,he result OF secret coutrivance."
Let me warm you against the temptations
that beset you to embark in this business of
politics A life well spent in the steady pur-
suit of any calling, with yield you a better in
come, will give you an independence of posi-
ton, and manly dignity of character, that no
office can ever secure to you. The small oil
ces OF a country always small places-and
the high ONES must be filled by men Of mark, for
little men grow less in them. and dWindle into
pigmies. Before You will consent TO step out
OF the respectable privacy otyolr own calling
to take office, be sure that you are not unworthy
of the place, or impeled by selfish motives
for ,he most worthy and upright these stations
briny with them triols aud grief5 that torture
men to dealh Oftenimes persons of merit are
swept to ruin in these high floods of vulgar ex-
element, or are strained for life, and their use
fulness hurt, by STOPPING waive their ranks,
and be associated in those enterprises " ith mean
unprincipled men. The shores Of political life,
IN every country, are strewn with wrecks like
these, and many of them were rich argosies -