Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-08-21
ALAS! POOR DOUGLASI

change of the last few days is that of
the Iowa City Reporter, the central Or
gan of the Democratic party, and by far
the ablest and most influential in the
State Of Iowa. 1t has taken down the
names Of Douglas and johnson, and
hoisted those of Lincoln and Hamlin in
the r stead. This is the last nail in tie
political coffin of the Senator of Hill
nois. It Is remarkable that the changes
everywhere are from, Douglas and none
to him. While majority of all the
Democratic papers in the United States
oppose him, the number that still cling
to his ruined fortunes are almost daily
diminishing. Some of the best are
coming over to the Republicans-some
are dying of starvation-some are dis
continuing their papers in disgust, like
Hood, of the Portsmouth Times, and
many more are placing the names of
Breckinridge and Lane where those of
Douglas and johnson stood before,
The result of the election will teach a
lesson to reckless politicians, which we
trust will be of untold benefit to the
country. Let it once be clearly demon
strated that the highest honors of the
Republic are not to be won by selfish
and trading demagogues, and better
class of men-Statesmen who can look
beyond the petty intrigues of personal
ambition to the great interests of the
whole country-will take the places of the
Pierces, Buchanans, Douglases and their
compeers.
The misfortune of our times, and the
danger to our institutions, has consisted
in the belief of unprincipled men, that
the people were to be swayed by preju
dice and controlled through their pas
sions. Hence every high and virtuous
impulse has been rebuked as "fanati-
cism," every utterance of faith in the
right has been denounced as "mingling
of religion with politics." every condem-
nation of wrong is resented as the preach
ing of "higher law and every effort to
elevate the humble and protect the weak
has been branded as ''treason.'' To feed
the hungry and clothe the naked fugitive
is called "negro stealing" and whoever
will not seize the famished and fainting
mother who is risking her life to place
her child beyond the grasp Of avarice
and lust is a ''nigger thief" while to
bay upon her track, with blood hound S
instinct, is the highest Of all political
duties. So utterly have all distinctions
between right and wrong been ignored
by party leaders, and so long have
party attachment elevated these leaders
into power, that they have come to be-
lieve the great mass of the people as
thoroughly base as themselves, and have
acted accordingly. The whole Of the
tactics of the Democracy for years past
have been based upon the assumption
that majority of the people were intel
lectually ircapable of reasoning, and
morally averse to the maintenance of
the right.
On what other theory car any. man
account for the deliberate falsehoods
opagated about the Republican party
and the prominent men who support it.
How else can you explain the incessant
appeals to the lowest passions and pre-
judices of the human heart. Is there
supposed to be a feeling of repugnance
against negroes in the community? I'm
mediately every Democratic editor and
stumper, attempting to profit 10y this
feeling, without hesitation, assert that
Chase, Seward, Horton, and all other
prominent Republicans, are in favor of ell
evating the negro and degrading the white
man below him! And the very heavens are
made to ring with the slang terms-"Black
Republicans "Woolly heads, y "Negro
worshipers. Sc. Such, every reader
knows, is the staple of every Democratic
speech, and the contents of every Dem
ocratic paper. Now could such course
be pursued, if those who adopt it did
not believe that in intellect the peo-
pie were fools, and in morals utterly de-
PRAYED? Every such speech is a simple
proclamation to the world that the
speaker believes his hearers, or ma jor-
ity of them, too stupid to detect his
falsehoods, or too base and servile them
selves to resent his appeals to their pas
sions as an insult.
We frankly confess that if we believed
their estimation of the intelligence
and virtue of the people correct, we
should wholly despair Of the success of
free institutions But such is not our
belief. We have ever had an abiding
faith that the impulses of the people
the great heart of humanity was right
and would not long be led astray where
freedom of speech and the press is per-
mitted. And this faith, which cheered
us in years gone by, when working in
a hopeless minority for the truth and the
right, as we understood it, is strength
ened every day, by the living evidences
Of the force that the truth and right have
upon the popular mind and heart. We
believe the election this fall will teach
lesson on this subject that can hardly
be misunderstood.