The register. (Monroe, La.) 185?-1861, 1860-04-26

Illustrated by the career o. Burr, who was GER
tainly not model of either public or private
puritt and;h should not forget that w ebster
was liotoriously pensioner upon the bounty Of
capitalists whose special Interests he advocated
in Congress. and that even Clay, after hk
celebFate0 desertion Of the Western Jackson
for the NewsEngland Adams, was not above
suspicion, much less partisan reproach.. en-
Mr. Prentice takes no account or the fact
that IN human affairs time is like liver which
bears us onward, we can not tell WHITTIER but
never bears us back. The utmost that we can
doist to eause the river to stagnate, and breed
myriads Of ioathsome and presidential creatures
from it's rottenness. The past must die and be
buried, or the present can have no true life
we cannot live always ins the tomhs of paf
ton with DECAY, and mistakes new forms Of
politica, life and movement for the, symptoms
Of death. Devoted to ideas that have passed
away, or that have served their purpose and
ceased to be agitative and militant, be docs net
seem to understand tb0ee that are now ascend
ant or struggling for ascendency. Washington,
Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, Webster, were great
men Of their respective times, because they re-
presented ideas peculiar to those times
They had work to do and they addressed them
selves manfafly to doing it. Their work was
INV ~ " 6AntAoSlOu auu auhptAtlVus uESt
class OF the statesmen Of the Union were Con.
stituti0n-makers; the second class were Con-
stitut ion-expoundera Mr.. Prentice insists that
the third class. whose functions pertain, to the
present condition Of affairs does not exist
And why Because he can point to no second
Clay and no living fac smile Of Webster. We
tell him that the revival Of the old statesman
ship is the mere dream Of political eidolcpsy.
The men of the past whose representatives he
is so much gricvel that he can find nowhere,
are not wanted any longer; the time has no
epoch, and needs different men to grapple with
the questions Of that epoch The period of mere
political formation is past, and the period for
the solution Of great social and Industrial pro
blrms is at hand. Mere constitutional lore here
can do nothing mere skill in adjusting ba-
lances Of political power can do nothing. Is
Just to hold the negro in bondage? Is negro
slavery inimical to the rights Of white men
IL it best for both the white and black man
best for the interests of agriculture. best for
the needs of commerce and uscfulsa and
best for social stability and civilization !?
These and kindred questions impcriously de-
mand to be answered; and they are precisely
the questions which the old school of statesmen
strenuously refused to look in the fncc. The
poverty and httleness which Mr.. Prentice so
much deplores in the politicians of this lay,
are much more owing to their desire to initiate
the old school in this respect than to a wide
departure from those illustrious models. -
The truth Is, we are in the midst of facts
having philosophy Of their own which we
must master for ourselves, leaving dead men to
take care Of the dead past. The Sphinx which
is now propounding its riddles to us the dead
Knew nothing about; consequently, no voice
from the grave can tell us how to get rid of
the monster. .- ,U..,,@