The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-01-26
political Charity

taught to ask our Heavenly Father to
tfsrgiye us our trespasses as ace forgive
those ,rho trespass against u.s." There is
also passage in the same book in which
is recorded the prayer to which we have
referred, which declares that now
abideth) these three-Faith, Hope and
Charity--but. the greatest Of these as Char
ity" "a7aJ
1t seems to us that these plainest and
most .beauti full teachings of Scripture
have been, for the most part, thrust out
of sight aud forgotten during the past
four years. At the very time when they
should have been needed and when they
j should have had the most influence in
swaying the hearts and molding the ac-
tions of men, they have been permitted
to fade from the public view ana MOI
even the professed ministers OF religion
with but few exceptionsJ have exerted
their influence to bring men to the con-
temptation of these things, or have serl-
ously inculcated in their pulpits and in
their own daily conduct the moral these
passages contain. Mems minds have
been filed with malice, hate and all I'M
.charitableness," and, except through a
portion of the secular pr ess, few voices
have been raised to stay the tide OF bit
terness and malignity.
But it is not our purpose this morn
ing to usurp the office of minister and
preach sermon upon the general duty
of charity for all; we desire simply to
refer to its application to the present
political situation i'll this State, and to
show that at least some of the gentlemen
who are prominent in the work of pro-
scription and Observation-Disclosures have
themselves need of that charity which
they deny to others. The proscriptive
spirit manifested by certain mon in this
State towards all who have been en-
gagged 10 the recent rebellion affords no
evidence of superior loyalty or superior
devotion to the national cause, because
is we'll known and daily observed that
the soldiers who fought bravely Eat the
'front.' during the war, now that the
war is over, are as generous as they were
brave. From the Lieutenant General
down through all grades in the service,
to the private, who, enid death shots
falling thick and fast" stormed the
stronghold of the enemy, none who bear
an upblemished and honorable record
are now clamOring for the persecution of
their late foe. That work is heiag done
mainly by men who reaRed profit and
Office from the war IN whose dangers
they took no part,
But besides being no evidence of sups-
rior loyalty or devotion to the country,
shis proscriptive spirit is confession Of
aoedkaess on the part of those governed
by it The desire that is manifested in
many quarters for the Acknowledgement
of large class of our own citizens is
confession by those desiring SO anti-re.
publican a measure that they cannot
compete in personal ability and fitness
tor office, with those whose political
rights they would take away. 1t
amounts to an admission skat they hold
whatever power they possess by so unjust
and unfair means. shat they are uu il
ling to permit the voice Of the WhOls peO,
pie to he beard, lest the popular vote
may put IN office men actuated by diff
erent impulses and higher motives than
they Even passion is itself an evidence
of weakness, and, III the ordinary affairs
of men, he. who gives way TO cage and
the blindness of anger ~ generally I'M
derstood as coafessiDg thereby that lie
has been worsted in argument and his
cause lacks the support of trnth.
But even if those most prominent i'll
the work of prescription were those who
had done most and suffered most in the
national cause, even II they were PCS
sessed of more mental and moral fitness
TO rale than can be found among any
other class in the State, even il they had
been elevated to office by ske free and
unrestricted suffrage or the people of the
whole State, sill Charity would demand
OF them a different course from that
which they have pursued And especially
should u lenicnt and liberal policy he
pursued by those whose own past conduct
has been judged charitably We cite
few instances:
1. u. 5. Senator WILEEV vas placed mp
the ticket with GcGGIN as an ultra pre-
slavery man, for the purpose of defeating
JOHN LETcHER, who was thought to ia
yor emancipation Mr. WILEY was
also a member of the convention that
passed the ordinance Of secession, and,
although he did not vote in its favor,
there was no man in the convention
louder or more earnest in his doruncia-
tons of tho Northern radicals and his
protestations Of regard for the South and
" Southern rights:
2. Z. B. HALL, Attorney General OF
West Virginia, voted in tho Virginia
cS,,veo+;,n IN p,ntn Genprol LEE COM