Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-09-03


this news, inasmuch as he saw a volcano the
other day underneath the northern iubilees.-
John Mitchell and the Wheeling argus, no doubt
will have fearful forbodngs from this time on for
that part Of the peculiar institutions committed
to their respective keepings.
PoLTICAL LIFE-Its Uncertainty. are
a certain class ofmen in the United States,
known perhaps to no other country, who make
politics the pecuniary business of their life and
the means of their support By it they "livc,
move and have their being" They do not even.
dignity it with the character Of profession,
but follow it, as a cobblcr follows his trade, or
a huckster the petty traffic by which he thrivcs.
Money is the object and politics the means, by
which to gain the sordid end. This is undoubt-
edly the ancanest class of politicians there are
There are another class, not quite so sordid MS
to make politics mercenarY traffic, yet who
view it no more worthily, than as means of
personal advancement and glorfcation. Per-
haPs some of our readers may differ with us as
to which really are the meanest; both are rery
mean, we admit, and we will not dispute upon
the question ofpre-eminencc SO far as deleteri-
Gus results are concerned the latter is, perhaps,
the most perncious class of the two "rhe
loud applause and praise vehement" of the
populace, is what captivates them and leads them
into the arena of political life, and not any other
or higher motive. Now, the love of applause
is very natural feeling, and when rightly rcgu-
lated, is by no means an unworthy one but there
is a certain diseased kind which becomes one of
the most disgusting and balefnl vices Such,
unfortunately, is the kind which curses the class
of politicians of which we speak, Destitute of
honor and of principle, if they can, by the
basest dissimulatiOn, by the lowest arts of hy-
pocracy or the viest practices of demagoguism,
win only passing breeze of popular applause,
their highest ends are attained.
tits politicians of this kind who are the dis.
grace and ruin of respectable parties, andIa
curse to the country ITSELF The venal adherent
to party is, of course, ever ready to make all he
can out of his trade, by changing his 'Princi-
pies" or his platform" Gust us the aforesaid
huckster changes his stock in handy to suit the
market. He of the second class named, the
selfglorifcation politician, is also prepared at
any time, though with specious pretcxts, to
slide out of the party which claims him into
any other that promises better. He twists and
turns, bends and unbends with the oily dex-
terity of an eel, and the principles he cspouscs
too day are no more an index to what he will
embrace tomorrow, than the clouds of this
evening are to the shape of those tomorrow.
The career of such politicians is usually
very uncertain one-proverbialy so, indeed
and generally terminates dlsgracefully. In the
history of our country we could name thous-
and instances of the kind. When they fall,
their fall is like that of Lucifer The number
of men, in their day esteemed great men in the
political history of their times, who, after en-
joying for while a bright career of fame, have
fallen into utter disgrace and forgetrulness, fully
shows the truth of what we say. An old poet
has well given his caution to such and warned
them of their fate: