The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-01-13
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
sATURoAY MORNs0o. JANUARY IS, lass.

I'M DAAA DANSA =
eATURoAY NORN.N0. JANUARY Is, 1885.
Tnk Acknowledgements is about 70 en-
10Y the exquisite delights Of holly contest
ed election. From now until next May. the
blessed fun viii last, waxing hotter and more
furious a. time slips on. By the time the
buas put ont and the birds begin to sing, the
rival candidates win be very well peppered-
Bouudless and sublime must be the patriot
ism which consents TO accept Office at the.
expense Of such an ordeal. Running the
gauntlet among the North American savagts
was nothing to it. The unhappy nominees
Of the two parties win be well pelted with
missiles OF every descriptions. Everybody
Of the opposite side must have hiss at them.
from the old fogy gander who has become
pray and venerable Yin the wise and cleanly
ways of politics, down to the pert gosling
who is demented with self conceit in his ac-
QUESTION of goose quill.
Our contemporary of the Baltimore Patriot
remarks that the election supplies the stimu-
lus once afforded by the horse race. This IS
true. but the candidates are not treated as
well as the horses. What horse could travel
round q course with thousands OF people
throwing brick bats and all sorts of missiles
At him, Even Boston, the inyincible; even
Red Eye, whose motto is Victory or Death,
would incontinently bolt from such track.
II is true there is seine jOekeying OCCASION
ally on the turf, and horses and riders will
sometimes take undue advantage OF each
other. Red Eye, for example, always would
have the start if he could get it--but the
crowd generally show the antagonists fair
play, and the horse of most speed and bot
tom wins the race. The election, in this re-
spect, is not an Improvement on the horse
race. 1t is not always, by long ways, that
the best and most deserving man is elected.
Jockeyism is the rule, rather than the excep-
ton, and often spawned, worthless party
hack wins the honors, while noble charger,
full of blood and muscle, breaks his proud
heart with defeat and disappointment.
Instead of fair trial of speed between the
rivals, as in the horse race, the opponents OF
each candidate endeavor to scare him off the
track, to make him throw his rider. and drive
him out of the field. The merits of the
nag have in this way very little to do
with the result Of the race. This is one
of the points in which men do not compare
favorably with their four-legged fellow crea-
lures. It would be impossible, in properly
trained company of high-bre steeds' that
Eclipse, Sir Henry, Boston, Red Eye and
such noble blo0ds, should never win race
and be always distanced by plough'horses
In the present election, one gallant and
thorough bred racer has BEEN entered, and
we wal, with some impotence to see his
competitor We hope he will be of the reg
ular Boston breed, and that when the contest
commences we shall have no jockeying but
let each animal be tried on his own merits
Every body will then be satisfied with the
result of the contest, whatever it may be-
and the victor will be installed amid general
acclamatiOns in the Executive stable, to revel
in oats and laurels for four happy years.
THOMAS WATsoN.-We have received a
handsomely executed Autograph likeness of
The Prototype Bard Thomas Watson; '-the
type, form, original and model of bards,-the
poet laureate of Richmond and the only liv-
ing successor of Shakespeare. The counte-
nanceis speaking and breathing image ofthe
illustrious Watson. 1t is not a work of art
tits Watson himself whom we see before u.s.
the massive brow corrugated with deep lines
ofthought; the eye beaming with the inspira-
ton of poesy, the countenance strongly
marked with burrows produced by men,
tai labor, and exhibiting an almost op.
presisve sense of that deep responsible.
ty which attaches to the poets mission.
The full and prominent lips indicate those
powerful passions which are essential to great
eainence in any walk of life. There is about
the whole face and frame, mingling with its
highly intellectual expression, an air of reso-
luton, promptness and energy, which dis,
closes the man of courage and action as well
as of thought. The moral organization of
Mr.. Watson is evidently so constituted that
in free fight, he would be at once bound to
Ego in" and accept and reciprocate the hos
pitalities OF the occasion with the great
est possible ardour. Nor does his counte.
nance belle his character, for Thomas Watson
Is soldier as we'll as poet, and wields the sword
with even more grace and energy than the
pen. On the ensanguined fields of Mexico,
he was a lion in battle, but mereiful in the
hour of victory as a lamb. Some of the scenes
Of that fearful struggle, commemorated by
his magic pen, will live long after the Mexi.
can nation has ceased to exist, and bear down
with them the name of 'The Prototype Bard
to the most remote posterity.
Mr.. Watson is Scotchman by birth; a
countryman of Burns and Scott and WILSON,
eountryman of Sir Colin Campbell and
those bare.legged Caledonians who, in every
pasfie OF the Crimea, have proved that the
valor and prowess of their race are eoual 70
what they were in the days of William Wal
lace and Robert Bruce. Speaking of vii.
liam Wallace, reminds us that a tragedy in
five acts, bearing that honored name no.
been: recently completed by Thomas w..
son.