Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-09-22
YOUNG nsn in Polltles.


\ human wei being sOllcltS and requires our
cooperation. lie who shuns the perform.
ance ofpolitical duties is probably selfish,
/ cowardly, a mean man, if not facranty
bad one, A thousand excuses for sucl
skulking from the requirements of public
duty have been devised-iIone Of them Sc
/ plausible as j onah might have made for his
experiment in the same liuc, (which carried
him into the whales belly. Do you say
/ that our current politics preponderantly
corrupt Z Thep it is your pressing duty
| to contribute your best efforts to their pu-
/ riGcation. Do you say that none of the
/ candidates are entitled 20 good mars sup
/ port2 Then select candidates who are aud
vote for them. DO you deem all parties
alike and equally bad ? Then sturt a
party and support it, even though you
stand alone. 1t is not your duty to vote
Tor bad men or bad measures but it is your
duty to vote. A thousand abuses may,
aud many do, exist iu connection with gov
ernment, but political emasculation will
icnre none Of them. If good and pure men
abure politics because they are more or
less corrupt, their voluntary impotence will
! only serve to render bad men more power
-iui than formerly, If gamblers, bruisers,
bAlies, aud grog vehderS have too much
| power already, aud the public service suf
tcrS in consequence, what must be its fate If
| politics are utterly surrendered TO these
classes, and they discover that they may do
htheir worst with absolute impuniy?
srfAn ey Governor WeAer) of the state
OF California lately shocked some ears by
declaring, IN Douglas speech, that be had
voted, at the beck Of his party, TO elevate
one whom he knew to be professional
gambler of thirty years standing, to the
most important post Of Sheriff Of San
Francisco, over one whom he recognized as
a citizen every way deserving Of aud fitted
for the Office. This seems hard thing to
do, and still harder TO avow but how
much better would he be who, knowing the
rival candidates to be such as Col. Weller
described them, should refuse to vote at
all Curse ye Meroz'
But how are we to EaolO the right from
the wrong in politics P is often asked; we
are absorbed in our studies, in our labors,
i'll our private duties; we hear but vague,
Ewld clamOr Of elimination and recrmina-
! tion--each party charging the other with
all the, sins condemned in the Decalogue,
and accusing it of cheriShing every evil pur-
pose. The journals we habitually read
may be wrong, or their adversaries may ::
how can we tell ? We have not time nor
taste for reading everything that is said on
each side, much Of it course and repulSive;
we hesitate, fearing to go wrong, which
would be worse than not going at all How
shall we, without impossible inquiry and in
vestigaton, kRO10 ihe right from the wrong
in politics How be sure that we cast
our Influence and votes into the scale of
Righteousness and Humanity ? Without
admitting that any citizen has a moral
right to be ignorant Of the vital facts which
| distinguish the Right from the Wrong in
our Politics, l suggest few touchstones
that every man could readily apply for him
self
/ /. Cast your eye over the circle of your
ueighbors and townsmen, and mentally di-
vide them into two claSses-those who live
virtuous, exemplary, useful lives, and those
who are neither desirable nor crcditable
members Of the community. See what
proportion of the former class side with
-each party, aud what proportion Of the
latter If majority of those whom, en-
tirely apart from politics, you would recog-
uize as good citizens, are found on one side,
aud majority of the opposite class on the
other, you may judge therefrom with which
party you onght probably to act.
II. Make "A list Of all those you know
who are distinguished for benevolence, phil.
anthropy, and an earnest, even if mistaken,
anxiety and effort to make life less burden
some to the unfortunate then make a
counter list of all those who seek to live at
the expense of their fellow msn-gambers,
rumselerS, panderers to iewdness and foster
ers of vicious appetteS geueralIy-and see
how each class is divided politically. If a
majority Of the former is found on one side,
of the latter on the Other the presumption
would seem strong that your proper place
lis with the former unless you are assimilat-
ed in character and purposes to the latter.
/ Ill Note in the popular discussions of
the Time, whether oral or printed, which
party most frequently and natura lily appeals
TO Conscience, to abstract Justice, to the
sentiment of Humanity, and which is most
Iagerse to and impatient of the blending o
Religion with politcs--aS if any man eoulC
cherish a religion that did not color his Poll
lies, or as if such there were. If there b.
any party that revolts at the blending 0
Religion with politics, it is not likely tha
one whose Religion is at all vital aud per
vadng will find himself at home in tha
party. ara...a s.
These mere hints as to party Ofinite
can be acted on by any rational beini
without aid from any extraneous source
and without undue absorption Of time, a
few hours' intense reflection and compari
son 10 the silent night watches must suppl!
almost any one with data whence to deter
mAe with reasonable approach to certainty
+ with whom and on which side he ought tc
array himself. And having thus made hl'
decision, he should act upon it, not halting
Iy, grudgingly, partially, but with generous
, aIacrity aud unshriuking fidelity. IL there
be community whereof the conscientious
God fearing members are less earnest OF
less eifeotise in politics than Others, theT
ought their religious zeal to find an enlarge
ment of its scope if not an increase of it
intensity. ..... ....
, And much the larger share Of poitica
labor will natural deyolve upon Younl
Men. They are the daily companions an,
trusted counselors of those who have no