Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1864-10-19
Extracts from the Letter Of Maj. Cen. Dix.

Extracts from the Letter Of Maj. Gen. Dix,
DOES any one doubt as to the true
cause of our national calamitias2 be-
lieve it to found in the management of
the leaders of both the principal pOliti-
cal parties during the last quarter of a
century. In 1910 the great men of the
Wing party-Webster, Clay and others
men of universally-acknowledged abili-
ty and long experience in civil life-Were
thrust aside, and General Harrison, man
of very moderate capacity, was selected
as its candidate for the Presidency. The
principle of availability as it was termed,
was adopted as the rule of election, and
the question of fitness became obsolute.
The concern was to know, not who was
best qualified to administer the Govern
ment, but who, from his comparative OBJ
security, would be least likely to provoke
an embittered opposition This was the
beginning of a system of demoralizatiOn
which hss ended in the present distract
ed condition Of the country. ItreVersed
all the conservative principles of human
action, by prescribing talent and expert
enee, and crowning mediOerity with the
highest honOrs of the Republic In 18-
A the Democratic party followed the sue
cessful example of its opponents in lS40.
1t put aside Van Buren, Cass, Marcy and
its other eminent statesmen, and brought
forward Mr.. Polka man Of merely or
binary ability. Parties which have neith-
er the courage nor the virtue to stand by
their greatest and best men soon fall into
hopeless Generalization This system of
refrigeration in all that is manly and just,
has continued, with two or three abortive
efforts at reaction, for twenty years.
It has driven pre-eminent talent out of
the paths which lead to the highest po-
litical distinction; and multitudes, with
simplicity which would be ludicrous, we're
it not so depIorable, ask what has become
of our great men. The inquiry is easily
answered They are in the learned pro-
fessions-in science, literature and art,
and in the numberless fields of intellect
ual exertion which are opened by the
wants of great country in a rapid career
of development. The intellect of the
country is neither diminished in the ag-
gregate, nor dwarfed in its individual pro-
positions. The political market, like the
commercial, under the influence of the
inAexible law of demand and supply, is
furnished with the kind ofmaterial it re-
quires. 1t calls for mediocity, andit gets
nothing better. The highest talent goes
where it is passport to the highest re-
wards. 1t withdraws from a field in
which the chance of accession to the first
civic honor is in an inverse ratio Of emf
nence and qualifications.
Thus under the rule of the inferior in
tellects which party management has ele-
vated to the conduct of the public affairs,
the peace, the prosperity, and the high
character Of the country have gone down.
If the great men of the republic had con-
trolled the policy and action of the Gov
ernment during the last quarter of cen
tury we should have had no rebellion
Distraction within invites aggressionfrom
without; and we are enduring the hu,
initiation of seeing a monarchy establish
ed in contract with our southern bound
airy by one of the great Powers of Europe
in contempt of ourrepeated prOtestatiOns,
and another Of those Powers permitting
rebel cruisers to be armed in her ports to
depredate on our commerce.
Under such a system of political man
agement no Government can last long. 1
know it is not easy to change what such
a lapse of time has fastened upon US
Politicians have the strongest interest in
placing in the chair Of State feeble men,
whom they can control, instead Ofmen of
power, to whom they would
be mere subordinates and auxiliaries.-
But the time will come-it may not be
far distant-when the people, tired OfvO
ting for men of inferior capacity, thrust
upon them through the machinery Of con-
ventiOns, in which they have no voice,
will rise in their majesty and place the