The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1853-07-22
A GOOD WORD ON POLITICS.

D. H. Brewster ESQ.,, of Philadelphia, de-
livered a very able address before the Literary
Societies of Princeton College on Tuesday
week, from which We take the following ex-
tract with regard to the pursuit of politics:
"The time was in the early history of this
country when great men were wanted IN pub
| lie places to establish our institutions-good
men are needed now in the walks of quiet
life to strengthen them. All the world over,
the trade of politician is the occupation of u
gamester; il is the business Of man whose
time is spent in envy and strife Public sta.
tions can confer no rank and bring no dis
tinction to men who run after them. All
great public occasions command the men best
fitted for the necessities of the times. The
emergencies that excite great men to action
having passed by, tranquility having been re.
stored, order having b,en established, new
men-interior mcn-men of doubtful parts
succeed to their masters, and manage with
ease, if not with skill, the vast machine which
wisdom created and industry set in motion.
All history has afforded constant example of
this-our history may yet do so.
"Sir Robert WnIpole in these latter times,
with Il mastery resolution, with power
mghte. than the storm, the power that binds
the storm-the calm-plucked up the crown
of England from the hedge wherein contend
ing factions had flung it, established the
lIanoverian succession, suppressed cOnspira-
cy, quictcd religious discord, and secured that
stability and dignity to public affairs, and that
repose to private life, which nurturcd the
strength of England, and gave her the power
to resist world in arms. With infexible
purpose he suppressed all attempts to embroil
his country in a 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
exigencics Of public life again required man
the Pchams gave way for Pitt-as poll.
ticians and placcmen in this country must
hereafter give way for patriots and statesmen.
"The highest public distinctions in this
country can have no attraction for right
minded men, unless they are the unsought
rewards Of personal worth, dignity Of charac.
ter, mental ability and u blameless life. OBJ.
taned in any other way, they disgrace those
who hold them. They were intended to be
great honors, not rich sinecurcs. The COM
pcnsatiOn attached to the best of them, will
| not equal the income that any man can earn
who is fit to hold them and discharge their
duties
"lf men crawl to high places by craft and
low contrivance-if they hold them at the
cost of all love of the truth and practice of
heroic virtue-if they accept station, which
they are unequal to, from want of proper
training-from want of information and want
of mental capacity, and which they hold like
imposters and usurpers, pulled up with vanity,
and mcanly greedy for the pay of the place
they are in n pillory. Such ndventurers
and serving men in their masters clothes, will
be laughed ut and expelled with scorn by the
misguided people who exalted them to power
to establish an equality of vulgarity, ostcnta.
ton and wickedness. Let not this be your
| fate.
"Thus far the great men of this land have
with reluctance and humility, received the
digDitics their countrymen have bestowed
upon them.
"Washington and Jefferson and Jackson
never stopped to solicit place, or accepted it
as the result of secret contrivance.
"Lct me warn you against the temptations
that bcset you to embark in this business Of
politics. A life well spent, in the steady
pursuit of any calling, will yield YOU better
income, will give you an independence Of po-
sition, and manly dignity of character, that
no office can ever secure for you. The small
Offices of country are always small places
and the high ones must be filled by men of
mark, for little men grow less in them, and
dwndlc into piglmics. Before you will con-
sent to stop out Of the respectable privacy of
your own calling to take office, be sure that
you are not unworthy of the place, or impcll-
cd by selfish motives-for to the most wOr-
thy and upright these stations bring with
them trials and griefs that torture men to
death. Often-timcs persons Of merit are
swept to ruin in these high floods of vulgar
excitement, or are stained for life, and their
usefulness hurt by stopping to waive their
rank, and be associated in those enterprises
with mean, unprincipled men. The shores of
political life, in every country, arc strcwn
with wrecks like these, and many of them
were rich argOsics.
"If you wish to know what public fame is,
remember that the long line of Roman con-
suIs and Grccian magistrates is now forgot
ten, while Esop, slave, Socrates, me-
chanic, and Horace, the son of freedman,
are immortal"