The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-06-20

z <.z 5.-a-
SYMBOLS OF THE REpuB11c-The sovereignty
of every man is fundamental principle in our
institutions, it is essential to the conception of
republic we shall find this principle in operation
And looking around for some extant symbol of
this let me select that which is the object of so
much strife and agitaton-the presidential
chair. do not, by any means, consider this
the most comfortable seat in the nation, or that
the most deserving man is sure to get there, but
as an emblem, Ibelieve it illustrates the noblest
privileges, and the proudest supremacy, on the
face of the globe. And refer to it as posi-
bility for the poorest and humbest child in the
land. No hereditary gallery leads to it-only
the broad road of the people. And, as the
highest seat in the nation, it illustrates all the
honors of the nation. They are possible to
anybody. And I trust the time has not yet
arrived when this can be said only by way OF
satire! can be true only because the waves OF
political corruption carry the meanest and un-
worthiest into Office, but as grand fact, fact
with which are involved the springs of our
national greatness and power, 1t may be said
that heqe there are no barriers of caste, no
: terms of descent, no depths so low that enter
prise cannot rise out Of them, no heights SO
exalted that genius cannot attain them, for, on
a platform as level to the peasants threshold,
as to the nabob's door stand the judges bench,
the senator's seat, and the presidents chair.
AS another symbol of this political equality,
4 I would name the ballot-box. | am aware that
this is not everywhere consistent symbol, but
to large degree it is. l know what misera-
BILE associations cluster around this instrument
of popular power. I know that the area IN
which it stands is trodden into mre by the feet
of reckless ambition and selfish greed. The
wire-pulling and the bribing, the pitiful truck
ling and the grotesque compromises, the exag-
geration and the detraction, the melo-dramatic
, issues and the sham patriotism, the party watch
:, words and the part nicknames, the schemes
of the few paraded as the will of the many, the
: elevation of men whose only worth is in the
; votes they command-vile men, whose hands
: you would not grasp in friendship, whose
presence YOU would not tolerate by your fire side
y incompetent men, whose fitness is not IN their
> capacity as functuaries, or legislators, but as
organ pipes, the snatching at the slices and
olfal of office the intemperance and violence,
: fthe fnesse and the falsehood, the gain and the
= glorv these areindeed but too closely indentl-
fed with that political agitation which circles
: around the ballot-box. But, after all, they are
y not essential to it. They are only the masks
of genuine grandeur and Importance. Fort
: isea grand thing-something which involves
y doctrines of right-something which has cost
ages of effort and sacrifces-tis grand thing
that here at last, each voter has just the weight
y of one man, no more, no less, and the weakest,
by virtue Of his recognized manhood, is as
strong as the mightest. And consider, for a
- =, moment, what it is to cast vote, 1t is the
token of inestimable privileges, and involves
- the responsibilities of an hereditary trust. Ii
: has passed into your hands as right reaped
E from fields of suffering and blood. The gran
"a deur of history is represented in your act Mer
:, have wrought with pen and tongue. and pmed
~ =. in dungeons, and died on scatfolds, that you
8 might obtain this symbol of freedom, and enjoy
/. this consciousness of a sacred individuality TX
the ballot have been transmitted, as it were, ,th
~ dignity of the scepre and potency of the sword
IF And that which is SO potent as right is ais
r. pregnant as a duty, duty for the present ant
y for the future. If you will, that folded lea
~ becomes tongue Of justice, and voice of orde:
~ a force of imperial law, securing rights, abo
s shing abuses erecting new institutions Of trutl
. preston of solemn responsibility, the exercise
VI du poNCI lOI SOou VI tFlls uOh
=, - and hereafter. II is the medium through which
~ ~ you act upon your c5untry-the organic nerve
! which Incorporates you with its life and welfare
f There is no agent with which the possibilities
j Of the republic are more Intimately involved,
y y none upon which we can fall back with more
confidence than the ballot-box.
h But there is symbol which represents the
o power and greatness of republic more signif-
r cantly than all the rest, and is, comprehensive
\ of all the rest. 1t is the fruit of unfettered
f thought and political equality, of intelligence
: and virtue, of private sovereignty and public
duty-itis free, true, harmonious mag. AS
. the crown OF the sceptre is the symbol of a
e monarchy, as heraldic honors are the symbols
OF an oligarchy, so, l repeat, the most express
sive symbol of republic is mana man free
8 in limb and SOUL a man intelligent and self
governed, man whose spiritual vision is clear
and in whose breast the voice of conscience is
peremptory, with whom the conception of
duties is deeper even than the conception of
rights, in short, man who embodes all the
elements, and represents to the world the best
5 results of liberty. Laws are nothing, institu-
: tions are nothing, national power and greatness
; are nothing, save as they assist the moral pur-
pose of God in the development of humanity.
10 this test we must bring the symbols OF the
republic, and judge whether they are fitting and
consistent. No omatter what else they accomplish
no matter what else they signify, if they do not
serve this end they are either incomplete instru-
, ments, Or vain forms. For, man is OF more
worth than institutions, religion is greater than
politics, and the designs of Providence are
, wider than the cycles of national destiny.
, >~~~-~~>~~~-~O-~~-~-~J-~
AN AGED OFFICE SEEKER-Tbe Washing
ton Sentinel gives the following sorry picture
} of affairs near presidential power:
''Some people living at a distance from the
city of Washington, seem to imagine that by
the mere asking, Offices can be-obaned in the
departments of the general government; but
no matter how strong they may regard their
own claims, whether on account of party ser
vices or personal friendship, they fail not to be
disabused of their calculations on arriving in
this city and making their respective applica-