Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-10-30
For the Torky!lle Enquirer.
THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE AND THE
PUBLIC MORALS. -.
.E:iitor and Proprietor,

''Learnrg gives men true sense OF their frail-
ty the casualty Of fortune, and the dignity Of the
soul and its office; whence they cannot think any
greatness of fortune worthy end Of their living,
and therefore live so Us TO giyea clear and accep-
table account to God and their superiors-w whilst
the corruptcr sort .of politicians, who arc not by
learning and virtue established in q love of duty
nor ever look abroad into universally, refer all
things to themselves, and thrust their persons INTO
the centre of the world as if all lines should meet
in them and their fortunes, without regarding in
storms what becomes Of the ship Of State, if they
can save themselves in the cock Of their own
fortunes '-Lord Brcon.
The exceeding excellence Of truth may be seen
and comprehcnded in this-that, partaking Of the
attributes Of God, its Author, it is as boundless
as the universe in its application to matter and
spirit, and eternal in its nYarableness and dura
written by Lorl Bacon near three hundred years
ago; yet, not antquated, existing still in its etcr
nifty of duration, its beauty and power und;min-
ished by TIE lapse Of ages the truth it records ap
plies with all its original force to the times and
generation, the very facts, exigencies and circum
stances in which VIC now live.
It will do US no harm, at the present time, to
take brief but comprehensive view of the polit-
ical elements with which we are environed which
are in fearful commotion throughout the broad ex-
tent Of the Union, and at which good men gaze
with an undefnablc dread Of pending national ca
lamity. See the dendly strife, the rancour, hate,
and aninosty which prevail in section arrayed n.
ganst section Listen to the trumpet blasts Of
civil war that have scarcely yet died away upon
the fair plains of Kansas. See the remains of
slaughtered fathers, husbands, sons and brothers,
upon cnsanguincd battle fields. where bowling
wolves appease their rayenous hunger tapping tho
still warm and smoking blood Of the slain: and
hear the shricks Of widows and orphans made
hyuseless, homeless and penniless by the relcnt.
less and murderous passions Of mon wrought up
to the fury and savageness of beasts Of prey
Look at the turbil waves Of Black Rerublcanism
at the Morrill, rolling on and on in their desolating
sweep, leaving nought in their wake but brutality.
phrenzy and Aheism! Look at the South The
scene is changed, verify. The people have been
duped, cheated md betrayed by the politicians
here too; but the effect is different, only because
the material upon which those vu!tures Of civil
society prey and continue to prey, is Of differ
cnt nature and the ruin is only less, because they
lacked the power to perpetrate still greater i'm
postures in the aid Of their own desperate for
tunes; and the patriot and the Christian look up
on the scenc the wreck Of the public morals. the
triumph of treason over truth and honesty, with
only less forebnding of i'll, because of hope of
the carly return of reason and judgment and
patriotic craftsmanship to the head and in the
lead of our councils
Let us now graycly and sooerly enquire, after
viewing the picture only sketched not drawn,
above-who has doneall this: Upon whom rest
the dread responsibilities which must roll in npon
society as consequence Of this treason to the
country and to mankind? The answer is plain,
and may be given without rejecting moment
As the poor, friendless woman said, whcm loaf Of
bread was thrown down the chimney into her room,
in answer to her prayers for succor-"Goa sent it.
but the Prince Of Darkness brought it," Whatever
lurking devil may lie at the bottom of civil sOcie-
ty in America; whatever there may he that tends
to turbulence and anarchy in the nature and the
hearts of the race of man, Of which we constitute
part, there can be no doubt of the fact that the
detestable brood of oice-seeking politicians great
and small, such as arc pictured by Lord Bacon in
the above extract, and which American society has
sngendered as reptiles are engendered in stag