Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-07-27
The Unien County Ticket.

Nr OVVnIhh u man OF considerable ii
tellectual abilities; and his mental trainin,
literary and professional, is respectable. :
ne Is, Of Jurse, lawyer. To fit him for h
9hc,, legal attainments are indispeDsabl
But he is lawyer ofa peculiar character
/ no IS professor Of religion. And here
question may arise: Is he the better or tb
worse because professor Of religion7 w
90 not attach great importance to the fac
worst men wear cloak OF religion-a pro
fession. But 10 there are counterfeits q
the best and the truest in every departmen
OF human life, spheres and activities. Goo,
Banks have counterfeits
The department, rather than the profes
sion, settles the character. Mr.. Cochran 4
one OF those lawyers whose habits are tenn
perate. He never frequents saloons. dog
gerles, grogshops. Is never drunk. r
never heard uttering profane language, I,
never heard scoffng at religion. Is peve,
known to threw contempt upon the Sab
bath, or its institutions. Is not found in
his office, or sitting upon the steps of store,
or tayerns or court house or county Office,
on the Sabbath; nor blacking up the way Ia
church with the lewd and iDtide, to the an
noyance OF the religious and worsbippinp
community on their way to church on the
Sabbath. He ever cultivates and exhibits
Ia ms intercourse with society, civil and re.
ligious, the .civilit,e5 and amenities of a
gentleman and Christian.
And now we put it to.the moral, the Chris.
tan portion OF our community, whether we
shall have for our Judges and Prosecutors
who OF course should be lawyers--men
VINO VIII tipple and ceuntenance the damn
Ing and disgraceful evil of iDtemperance--
whether we shall vote for men who will
keep their offices open on the Saboath-wbo
Will lounge about the streets, the hotels,
ana public buildings on the Sabbath--who
VIII never be seen in church even with
their families-men who scnff at religion.
at Its consecrated day, its ministers and all
It's hallowed institutions--men on whose
consclences the sanctions of an oath take no
mold beyond their pocket, their name and
their personal safety, and who fear nothing
beyond the penalty of the civil law, or per
maps public sentiment little when fran
ch,Se or party may be before the mind.
How much more does the man who pro.
feSses re- and adorns religion merit our suffrage.
The man whose official acts will be govern.
ed. not only by human laws, but by the de.
clslons OF an enlightened and pure con.
science. The man who believes and respects
The sanctions Of the Divine Law, and be.
lieving its higher sanctions honors them in
every act of his life whether personal or of
hcial The man who at the hour of solemn
assemblings on the day of sacred rest is
found with his family under the sound of
the Divine Oracles, or with Bible in hand
standing at the head of the Bible class
shaping youthful minds fer useful plans in
society civil aud religions. To such a man,
even where all other things are equal, will
the conscientious citizen give his vote in
preference to all Others. Here he finds SC.
curity, for the full and faithful discharge of
official duties, more valuable and satisfactory
than the thousands Of dollars of the balls
man. .
We are not to be understood as saying
here that religious profession is indispen
sable to office. Far from it. But we do saw,
moral principle is. And then it will require
little logic to make clear to the honest voter
that true religion and morality are more
likely to be inseperable associates than that
vice and good morals will be found in the
same character.
What burning shame that Christian
should be represented in its Of
ices hy men OF profane and immoral char.
actcr-men who regard an oath nothing
more than the form of legal induction to Of
dee men whose oath fails to put to rest the
public mind in regard to defaulting in Office
men whose example in society, and es-
pecially among the youth, is feared by good
men as an Infectious disease
1t is we'll known that the politicians of
the South as class, are immoral men
indeed very extensively lewd men. Had
they been moral mcn-men regarding the
moral sanctions Of an cath. which appeals
10 Almighty God and to final Judgment,
they never could have played off so coolly
the treasonable perjury they did while sit
ting in the u. 8. Senate under oath of feal
Iy and at the same time plotting treason
Such perjury the world has never witness.
ed. Such evidence of deep depravity has
never been exhibited before the world, or
recorded on the page of the worlds history.
Southern immortality, extending its blight
over the North, was the germ from which
grew that Upas tree-that blighting rebel
lion which, as scourge and judgment from
Tod for national sin, dclugei our land in
blood. And in these blood stained foot
steps of a terrible retrbutive Providence we
read the impressive truth of the divine
shall not go unpunished.
While the late war was, to us as a nation, a
terrible scourge from the hand OF Just
God on account of our national transgres-
sions, yet, in its effects, by the blessing of
merciful Providence, it has been followed
by some good fruits encouraging to a loyal
and Christian people. Our army has not
been. demoralized. Our youth return as
tree from moral contamnations as they en-
tered the service of their country. In
thousands of instances, in our armies, the
immoral and vicious have been reformed
aud returned and restored to anxious homes
bearing upon their moral character and de-
pertinent assurances Of a healthy and ex.
emplary influence upon society Even from
heir wistful enemies at home commenda-
lion is literally exhorted. And this is
tho more cheering in the prospect of our
,euntry's welfare and reform since so many
,f the important Offices will be filled by the
returned soldiers of the Unien army. Brave
men strong at home as in war-strong in
ruth, in Justice and in rightl
The same general principles have been
Illustrated in the progress of this war in its
Effects upon our leading men in civil places.
From the President down through all the
grades of civil officers very marked change
has been noticed in the moral tone of all
public and official utterances. In all Inau-
yurals, Messages, Proclamations-al State
papers in which national morality could 6nd
representation, this feature has heen ex-