Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-12-03


ance: You may dSsaSSinate me, bit
you cannot ,ntimidate me-" Read, too,
and admire and initiate the heroic Ersk-
inc, the greatest of English barristers,
who, against the whole power Of the Elk.
ecutive iu the time Of both foreign war
and rebellion, maintained for years the
rights and liberties of Englishmen, with
undaunted intrepidity.
Prepare yourselves, by continual study
of the characters and noble emulation of
the example of these and other great and
good men, of the past, for like scenes in
your own day. Nerve your hearts now
for the struggle. But remember that
ability, however eminent, and intellectual
discipline, however exact. are net enough.
Without pure morals, correct habits, and
fixed integrity, you cannot endure the
trial. Be virtuous. Be pious / use
the word in no narrow, sectarisn, or the
illogical sense; but in that which Virgil
means when he calls Enas "pius "a
piety which belongs to no one sect, nor
cline, nor time, nor country. but which
everywhere, and at all times, renders to
God and self and man whatever is due,
and does it in the very spirit of the ser
mon on the Mount.
But, young gentlemen, while / have
thus addressed you as students preparing
yourselves for the ordinary business and
professions of life, l well know that at
any time many of you would be, and in
times of such tremendous import as are
Just now upon us in our own country,
all of you are profoundly interested in
politi $. Probably you give to them
more Of your thoughts than to any Of
your collegiate or professional studies.-
know, too, that many ofyou even now,
look eagerly forward to the time when
you will pass from your professions into
political life. This is the goal of your
ambitious longngs. Your hearts are
fixed upon it. 1t is an honorable, ho-
ly ambition; an ambition not to be ex-
tinguished but regulated. He is false
teacher who would tell the ingenious,
virtuous, and public-sprited youth of
the land, that the political service of the
country is fit only for the vulgar, the i'm
pure, the corrupt. AS there are hypo
critics in the pu pit, empires in medicine,
pettfoggers at the bar, and pretenders
everywhere, so there are demagogues in
political lite. But there is as well a
morality as a philosophy, science in
politics far above the circle of these rep
tiles. Unhappily the low standard of
capacity and morals set up and denounc-
ed by those who decline public life, and
practically but too often acknowledged
by politicians, is another of the evil por-
tents which impend our country. Of
the corrupting influences of avarice. at
| all times, | need not speak. But more
debasing and dangerous still, in seasons
of great public connections. is the exc
cradle vice of fear. All these combined
make up that most loathsome of all the
objects of reproach and scorn, "a scurvy
politician. He has borne the same
odious character in every country and
age. Among the Greeks, he once court
ed popularity and place, by pointing out
the smugglers of figs, and was cursed as
both spy and informer, and thence gave
name to tho whole class of dema-
gogues. In Rome, he headed every petty
popular tumult and clamorcd iercely foi
division of lands and goods. Curran
described him in his day, in fclicitous
phrase, as "ono who buoyant in putre.
! faction, rises as he rots." He is the yer.
min, the insect Of politics, and amid the
l heats of civil war and commissions, teens
4 into life thick as gnats in tho summer
/ evening air. If any one among you
and | speak to those who would aspire
to be leaders of their countrymen-havC
; neither the capacity nor the ambition tc
0 ba statesman, let him at least not stooI
to become demagoguo. Preach, hea|
: try causes, work, but scorn to be one o.
thpt number who know nothing of poll
tees, except the passions and person ali
ties which they excite. If not able &c
; argue upon principles, measures. policies
debate not at all. 1t you cannot soar
: do not Creep Whoever discusses only
men in politics, is largely slanderer
Principles, not men, is not, indeed alto
gether sound maxim; though little liza
BILE to be abuscd-since personalities al
ways make up so large and controlling
an element in mere partisan politics.
Better say principles and men. 1t il
; easy to be politician or demagogue-
sail with the wind; float with the curren
! look not to the compass, neither lif
up your eyes to the Heavens, where th
: consultations and the pole star-brigh
o and glorious emblems of God, and truth
Y and right--still shine, steadfast an,
J, immovable, just as they shone in the be
u ginning OF time. Poeta ndScitar SO i
q is with the demagogue. But the states
! man must be made as well as born. Hi
4 voyage is through mid-ocean and i
d storm. He sails under orders. His POI
: is ascertained and prescribed before h
J. sets out, and it is his duty to reach it
/, and so like the majestic ocean steamer, b
y sails on, and
. "Against tho wind against tho tide,
Il Still steadies with an upright keel"
n Demosthencs, more than two thousan
years ago. in his great oration for tn
a crown, we'll distinguished between thes
i two characters, declaring that while the
IS were alike in nothing, they differed chic
: ly in this--that the statesman boldly an
:. ho estly proclaimed his opinion befor
d the event, and thus made himself respon
a.. sible to fortune, to the times. to his cour
,. trymen, to the world; while the sycc
N phant or demagogue was silent till tn
i. event had happened, and then governe