Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-12-18
Notes About Grambling.

| And, mark me, this licensed and acknowl
edged grumbling is the surest safeguard o
liberties, and the safest guarantee for oul
not launching from our snug roadstead O.
constitutonalism, where we can ride at an.
Choir, and smile at the timid argosies ane
caravels Of despotism moored and chained il
the grim granite basins Of the inner port
and all without launching into the troubled
oceans, full Of breakers and white squalls, O
Of utter democracy. We seize upon wrong
and grumble at it, till, after few months
and sometimes q few years grumbling, We
find that the wrong exists no more, and thai
we have gained another right. But we have
had no barricades adj anterin, no fusillades,
no bombardment of private houses, no dec
larations Of the solidarity" Of anybody,
no confscation. no Expectations. and nc
guillotinings. Cur rulers grown wise by
experience ofsmashed windows, pelted heads
and occasional (when the people were very
hard driven political humiliation, and hnrl-
ing into the limbo of tapisn, nave of late
years placed few or no restrictions upon grum-
bling. The noble lord at the head Of the
Government daily receives Populations who
grumble at his measures, or at the measures
he wont guarantee to propose, fearfully.-
In the Parliament House, no sooner does
our gracious Queen, in her silver bell-like
voice, speak the speech that others have
written down for her q dare say she could
write much more sensible Discourse her
self, } than Lords and Commons begin tc
grumble about the sense Of her words, and
move amendments to the address which is
to be presented to her. Down stairs, all
through the session, parliamentary commit
tees are grumbling at witnesses, and witnes.
ses are grumhling at the committee; and in
outlying boroughs vicious electors are grum-
bling at the members Of the Commons House
Of Parliament. The country newspapers and
the London newspapers gramble. The bar
risters grumble at the judge, and the judge
at the jury. The public grumbles at the
way soldiers are treated by the officers, and
the soldiers, (who are about the only citi-
zens who are not addicted to grumbling,
60 out and fight and win battles, at which
we at home grumble, because so many lives
have been lost. And dare say the Prime
Minister grumbes because he has the govt
and the Queen on her throne grumbles be-
cause Punch caricatures the Prince Consort
and Punch grumbles because the Prince
Consort does not often enough give occasion
to be grumbled at. grumble at being
obliged to write for your amusement, ant
you grumble because I am not half amusing
enough. We grumble at the cold dinner
at school, at the price Of the marriage license
at the doctors bill for our first child's measles
at the cost Of the funeral Of Uncle John, VIII,
left us all his money. We grumble becaus
we have to live, and grumble when the ply
sician tells US that we must die. Does
not all resolve itself into our purer, bette
Fielding's aphorism in Naaeity Fair-s'Ah
annatos vanitatuna Who Of US has not hi
hobby, or having it, is satisfied 2" Yetther
is much virtue in having at least liberty t
gumble.- Welcome guest.