Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-03-09
The Evils of Political Life.

the most enticing and most sought for, 1t a
at the same time the most ruinous. The b
ninitiated young man knows scarcely any v
hing of the peculiar temptations which lie II
a the path to honor and success. Whatever I
nay be the ~soundness of his principles, the
of his morals, or the firmness OF
lis courage to resist evil, when once he has
uttered the whirl of political life, there are
ew instances of escape, unless he retreat at
early period from the vortex.
The history of the country furnishes here
md there imam, wholly the dint ofhis energy
the purity Of his motives and the genuineness
Of his patriotism, has come out at the close
of a long life, unstained and unscathed but
they are rare indeed. Even a steady, real
piety has often been unable to resist the
power of evil, inseparable, almost, from a life
of active pursuit in the arena of politics.
Many strong men who have battled manfully
for a while against the current of evil, have
been swept away at length by its accumula-
ting force, and a quiet home, a lovely family,
a devoted constituency and even the Church
of God, have been left to mourn over blighted
prospects and wreckeq hopes. Where a vault
ing, unsanctifed ambition, takes hold of a
man and rules him, no previous purposes OF
integrity and propriety avail much.
At the YER, threshold of political life, every
man in this az Of corruption, is met with the
temptation, nay, with the alternative, of be-
coming either a deceiver in order to success,
or of being deceived, with certain defeat. He
must become a man of tact, of pliancy, OF
seeming to be what he is not. When once
he has learned to play the hypocrite, he
shakes hands with his former virtues and
rushes on to the goal. He viii not do this
without a strong, internal conflict. Some
times he hesitates-considers, then turns back:
choosing rather to be right, than to succeed.
Yet most hesitate, to parley, to reason them
selves into the belief that, as they have such
and such competitors, they must meet them
with their own weapons. Thus it is the mo-
raj sense becomes weakened, conscience, bea-
ten Town and discouraged, ceases to perform
ltS Ol1IC, anu Y WIICh IACClo NIVOhp
then comes the tug of war;
Next to the employment of trickery and
demagogism in order to success, politicians
learn, alas, too soon, that the most potent wea-
pom they can use, is aohjskey and its coadju-
4 tors. For a time their own sobriety may be
) put to a severe test, to resist the clamors of
r the ''dear people" to join them; until at
length, the taste becomes familiar, and soon
n the young candidate is overcome.
r But it is not in the excitement and trickery
d of the canvass, that the ruin is completed
Whether he is a successful candidate for a
seat in Congress or in the Legislature, it mat
1T tiers not, though the seductions to ruin are on
a grander scale in the former than in the lat
S ter. Yet they are alike c%orrupting to morals
IL and destructive to many men of the fines
of promise in the land. What a record would
a truthful history of the ravages of intemper
it ance, corruption and RIGHTEOUSNESS be, if i
ye were written outby q master hand, even Of tn
ye last twenty years of the Congressional life {
- hundreds of our country men! How man
a noble fellow, has been wrecked for time an
eternity, by the debasing, corrupt society
which congregates at Washington City, d,
ring a session of Congress- Some one owe
it to humanity, to his country, to write tn
history, shameful and disgusting and mortif.
: ing as it would be to every patriot. NJ
would the history of the late and former Lee
i~slatures of this State, be much less humili
G ting to true hearted North Carolinians. Ho
H. many of the noblest sons of the State, boz
to the highest purposes of manhood, capab
of filing the highest positions, are degradir
themselves to the lowest condition, by yiel
:, ing to the seductions of Alcohol. Our e,
could take in at a glance a dozen OF the mo
gifted and formerly the most worthy sons
the Old North State, whom whiskey ha
:, wrecked, and we fear, ruined beyond recoy
nv and all for what T? Because they wou
be politicians. The glare Of promotion
lured them from the steady walks of virtue
life-from vacations, which promised all tn
- should have desired-to wallow in the mire
%iniquity, dragged into it, by the enemies
God and man. O! we know many of Q
most promising men, going, going, gone, do0
to the cutters of intemperance and licentio'
Oak ness, over whom we could weep fountains
cted tears, if they could wash out their stains g
!. as bring them back to virtue and honor.
ohm Will no one care for these once homo
tier and honorable men ? Does no heart b
pre- warmly to rescue them? Would that so
Good Samaritan would seek them out and b
up their wounds and restore them 1t n
be done. There is yet left in them some
tige at least of honorable impulse Their
yet a latent spark of virtue in their bose
which may by some kind hand, be kim
into a flannel Reader! do you know on
more of them? Can't you make an efor
snatch them from the impending ruin?
CHESAPEAKE AND ALBEMARLE CANAL
'opu- are gratifed to learn that the last ston
: L the lock was laid on the 10Th ult., and tn
ie re- is confidently expected that the canal
JAN he ready for navigation by the first da