The Portland daily press., 1862-08-09
A Character to be Proud of.

We have heard the story Of fellow so I'M
fortunate as to receive long sentence to the
State Prison, but who behaved so well
that his friends proposed to petition for his
pardon. The culprit appealed to friend who
called to see him, to intercede in his behalf;
but the ''friend," perhaps lacking confidence in
his reformation, put him off by suggesting
that he had better serve out his full term, and
then, on leaving, to get certificate of good
conduct from the warden andoverseer. "That
,rould be a character to travel on" replied the
indignant prisoner, -"a recommendation for
good behdrior in the State Prison.
Without attempting any explanation of the
phenomena of association of ideas, or how one
thought will sometimes suggest another having
but a faint family resemblance. we are con-
strained to acknowledge that this anecdote was
brought to mind by reading the cordial en-
dorsement of the Advertiser, on several occa-
sions withina week past, from the editorial pen
of the Argus! The following are samples of
this kind of writing Dana Democrats name
across the back of protesting Republican, to
make him pass current.
Mondays Advertiser in an article entitled
"The Sons of Temperance" forgettieg such no
BILE men as Com. Foote, Gen. Franklin, Gen.
Howard, of our State, and hundreds of others.
said
There is not a distinguished officer in the
army or navy, that is worth the powder it
would take to blow him up-worth the pen,
paper, and ink it took to write those condem-
natory resolutions, that is tetotaller, or erer
uds, or euer ,oiU be.
The above paragraph was undoubtedly
aimed, personally, at a distinguished citizen Of
Portland, now in the army as General officer,
and was ntendedas a ip-the-devil-round-th
STUN mode of saying that he is not "worth the
powder it would take to blow him up" This,
too, from a man so sensitive about the reputa-
ton of our military men, and so ready to de-
nounce, as worthy of Fort Lafayette, all who
do not believe that Mcclellan is more than
mortal But the same article from which the
above is clipped, contained the following, not
"garbed," but fairly revealing the spirit and
animus of the whole article:
Let the voters in this city and county, and
throughout the State, see to itthat not single
man of this secret organization is elected to
any office, either as delegate to county or dis
trict convention. or nominated for any office,
except that of high private.
Personally, we care nothing about the Sons.
If they can and will do any good, we say
"God help them;" but if they will sow to the
wind, let them reap the rhiri,cind.
We would like to see record of the less
rum there has been drank, by the world, than
there would nave been drank, If their organiza
ton had not been born. We don't think it
would exceed a tlimble full.
The above appeared in the Advertiser Mon
day morning, Aug 4th. The very next morn
ing the Argus gave it the full weight of its
great name, as follows:
The Advertiser of yesterday, in power
fully written article, discusses the merits of the
"Sons of Temperance" organization, and warns
Republicans to exclude from their conventions
delegates chosen by secret influences. The
editor regards the Neal Dow theory ola Maine
Law as humbug.
In the same number OF the Argus we also
find the following traces of its name written
across the back Of its yoke-fellow, to give eff
feet to one of its small shells exploded at the
Press:
Its 1.-THE Press position is among those so
well defined by the Advertiser, whose words
VIC ItpiouuNtu yestcIutt.
Going back one day farther, we find in the
Argus of August 4th the following-the ex-
tracts from the Advertiser being the same that,
for copying, called down upon our paper from
the Advertiser whole column about "gar-
bling" but, in the Argus, calls for no such
complaints from its conjugial fellow-t5orer:
1.-THE Advertiser has an able and conserva-
he Of oh I.a
cred from these extracts:
The Southern negroes are not yet sufficiently in
telligent TO render freedom blessing to them"
1--WE repeat what we have often said before, that
where victorious armies march, all the slaves
freed by military necessity; and where they do not
march, no proclamations offering them freedom can
free them" @
"If the Government could send the editor of the
New York Independent, Wendell Phillips, William
Lloyd Garrison, Senator Chandler. and such like to
Fort Lafayette to stay there until the is and
the Union saved-all the people will say-Amen So
mote IL be-
So much for the Advertiser, paper that has
for thirty-two years been at the head of its
party in the State, and which was earliest in
the leadership of the republican party"
The above is sufficient for our present pur-
poses, and to show that, "when the devil
pricked his teeth with his tail"-a smile used
by one of the speakers at the late commence
ment dinner at Brunswick-it was not the on
ly instance in which extremes have met Our
only object in this article is to show the per-
feet oneness Of our morning contemporaries
The reasons why they incur the expense of
keeping up two separate establishments, and
OF issuing separate sheets, are to be found
probably, in motives of policy rather than in
differences in principle or purpose. We shall
scarcely be surprised to wake up some morn
ing at an early day, and find the two papers
consolidated, dedicated to pro-slavery Repub-
lican Democracy and the consumption of Old
Catawba, with onr loving friends, Case and
Adams, as editors in chief, and sub for each
letter of the alphabet. The reader may smile
at such a suggestion, but it will require but a
single practical step in advance of their pres
ent position, which seems to be that of sickle
my-back- Neutrality-suspicious. the Ad-
about the State written across
the back in bold letters, "ARGUs," to commend
it to the Republicans of Maine as ''power-
full" well Defined" conservative" paper,
that has for thirty-two years been at the head
of its party in the State, and which was earli-
est in the leadership of the republican party"
Isn'ttha a character to be proud of? A re-
publican paper endorsed by the Arg'ts' An
honest man with recommendation of charac-
ter from the ouerseer Of the State Prison. A
christian evangelist ordained by Beeizebub,