Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1855-01-26
HINTS To AsPIRANTs-PREMA
AGITATION-WIRE WORKERS.

ana In many cases modest avoidance leads to
actual realization, while in other cases, indeli-
cate pursuit raises up disgust that battles the
pursuer Honor, political honor, is more caprici.
Gus than woman. The last is won, while the first
isiost bypersistng addresses. The highesthonor
shat we can confer, in this country is the Presi-
deney. 1t is natural that so great distinction
as the spontaneous tribute Of a nation of free
men, should be the highest object Of ambition.
now TO obtain it is the question. Some at.
tempt one mode, some another Some great
men rely upon their services, and scorn, as
great men should scorn, the paltry means that
Others employ. Some parade their services,
ana keep instruments around them to aid in
keeping their names and services before the
public. Others rely upon mere management
upon corrupt bargains and unprincipled coali-
tons. Those last act upon the suggestion of
that willy politician, Lord Bacon, who says in
one OF his essays: !" all rising to great place is
by winding stair; and if there be factions, it
is good to side mans SELF whilst he is in the
rising, and to balance himself when he is
placed"
They, like Bacon, forget two things. The
hrst is that honesty is the best policy; the last
IS that man elected by factions, finds it very
difficult to balance himself" after he is elected
Onr own country is not without examples of
this truth.
+ One thing is certain, and it is that the Anne
rican people only need to discover that a man
Is anxious for Office in order to defeat him. 1t
Is not the anxiety, but the exhibition of that
anxiety, that disgusts them. The Office is so
high, that the people know any man would be
proud to obtain it. But they think, and prop
erly think, that he who is worthy of it will be
still, silent and unseeking--that he will sit in
the calm repose Of conscious worth, and scorn
to move limb or member to get it. The mo-
ment they discover that a man is seeking it,
that moment they give him up and they will
rather take, as in one or two memorable in
stances, they have taken, obscure, unknown, and
incompetent men, than SUCH
The doctrine Of the Bible" Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and We shall find !;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you'-does
not apply to politics. In politics the man who
begs the most imploringly, seeks the most in
dustriously and knocks the most loudly, is the
very man in whose face the door is violently
slammed.
When the acquisition of an object depends
upon force, then force must be applied, when it
depends upon supplication, then supplication
must be tried. But the American people viii
have neither dictator nor beggar. Their
votes are free and spontaneous, and they want
TO make their own choice. They prefer man
who is so nobly conscious or so modestly un.
conscious of that merit, as not to stir muscle
to get it acknowledged.
We believe that the days of schemers and in
triguers are over; We, at least, hope SO. They
have brought danger and disaster on the coun-
try. They are pestilent brood and the sooner
they are crushed, the better. Yet it is vain TO
hope that that those good and golden days that
poets have dreamed of will ever come, when
none but the vrtuous and deserving will aspire
to power, and when none but honest means will
be employed to compass the objects Of ambi.
ton. Still we may hope for honest days, when
the people, Disguised with articles, and with
demagogues, will bestow their rewards on the
yirtuous and the deserving.
AS the time approaches for making arrange.
rnents for the Presidential canvass, there will,
no doubt, be, as is usual at such times, great
outpouring Of the wire.workers and managers,
who, Indeed, have already begun premature agi-
tation. They swarm like bees around hive
Of buzzards over carcass. They pretend TO
great patriotism and much wisdom and i'm
agine that they hold in their hands the issues Of
political life and death. Their patriotism is
but personal service, for which, in the event Of
success, they expect pay; and their wisdom is
nothing but cunning and unprincipled manage
ment, which generally overreaches ITSELF While
they affect to be seeking the interests Of their
favorite candidates, they are earnestly seeking
their own interests. Nor would they hesitate
to sell their services to half dozen aspirants,
and cheat all, if they found out that sevenths
mans chances we're the best. They watch the
auctuating chances as hawk watches young
chickens, and are ready to abandon one aspir-
ant and take up with another, at moment
warning. This, however, they win not do
openly. They keep up the deception to the
last.
1t is indeed a melancholy thing, that men
who are prominent enough to aspire to the
Presidency, should suffer themselves to be i'm
posed upon by such mercenary and miserable
creatures. Yet, for all that can be said ant
done TO break down this base tribe, we do no
doubt that, when the Presidential conventions
are held, they will muster in their usual force
They will appear in new suits Of clothes, pro
cured on credit, and with supplies Of none,
raised on their expectations. They will pla
,,,,or ooa;r THAR old pame of chicanerv decor