The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-06-19
CONGRESSIONAL"

~OONOhEOClONhh
We find the following specimen OF loco
foco argument in the Cleveland Banner Of
last week:
sBut to cap the climax the know nothing
party Of that county Monroe has, en- mdsse
announced VIM. tIeiskell-a very clever man
butwhose age renders him incompetenttod dc
the arduous labor of Congressional race
But that's no business Of ours, as We are go
ing for Sam. Smith, and if "Unce Billy" does
run for Congress We hope he will have hne
time Of IT,"
This paragraph is in perfect keeping with
the policy of the leaders Of the locofoco par
(which is, to assume a superiority for thei'
candidates in all things, and to ridculo every
opponent who offers for Office or presumes to
question the soundness and infallibility Of
what they are pleased to call democratic
principles" So much has this been the poll
cy Of these same leaders and so rigidly have
they pursued it that it has proved destructive
to every thing like independence in their owl
ranks, and no member of the democratic party
can now offer for an Office unless he first con-
suits them without subjectng himself to the
charge Of treason, dsloyalty to party and
disposition to pander to the opposition. This
thing is now beirg practiced in this State
The game of the two or three self-insttuted
leaders il. each county is, to ridicule the pre-
tensions Of every political opponent who Of
fers for popular Office, and to choke down
every one Of their own faith who has the in
dependence to become n candidate for the
suffrages of the people without the endorse
ment Of clique. Understand us-we art
talking about the leaders-the mighty few
who believe they are authorized to do all the
thinking for the party, and that the hones
masses have no other duty than to carry ou
their behests.
But to the paragraph above. The Banner
was never more mistaken in its life. Col
Ieiskell enjoys degree ofheath and pow
er of mental and physical endurance thai
would wear out and exhaust a half dozer
such effete and diIapidated samples Of mas
culne mortality as Sam Smith and the editor
of his organ. He is plain, practical farme
"a man of strong natural sense, with a mine
well cultivated and improved, and his physica
and moral stamina would enable him to &c
through the "arduous labors' at Washing
ton, which prove fatal to so many gentlemen
uninjured and unframed. Every body in
the Third Congressional District knows thai
Col. Smith personally is favorits with US
and that years ago, ere the Banner made its
advent into this breathing world to startle
nature and astound the natives, we said more
and prettier things of him than anybody; and
we claim to have some regard for him even
now, notwithstanding the enormous political
sins of which he has since been guilty. We
know that the four years "arduous abors" at
Washington must be telling upon the health
physical and mental, o. one of his trail or
ganizaton, and we honestly think it would
be bordering upon cruelty to send Col. Smith
back there to mingls in such exhausting and
enervating scenes as attended the election Of
Speaker Banks and the passage Of the Com.
pensation Bill. We therefore oppose his re-
election from considerations of a personal
as well as of political character; and we be.
lieve majority of the people will coincide
with us and determine to vote for Col. Heis-
kell. Let the Banner strike some other chord.