The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-26
s.Be Temperate in All Things"

Sbe temperate Ah All AHAuSSs
For the next twelve months it is certain that
the country will be convulsed with political
excitement. The number and magnitude of
the elections, the mighty issues at stake, and
the extreme bitterness felt by each party
against its opponent, demand that all the
caution possible should be exercised by gem
tlemen on both sides to prevent the contest
being disgraced by gross personalities. For
years we have had the cry Of ORATORS, /" "Cop-
perheads," and the like, on one side, and the
response of "Abolitionists, "amalgama-
tionsts," 'nigger-lovers, on the other. If
in comparatively calm times such terms have
been resorted to, how much more violently
will they be applied when the passions are
infamed to white heat by reason of bitter
battlef We therefore greatly fear that we
will see the members of each party disgrace
our country and themselves by a violence
utterly opposed to courtesy and, we may add,
decenoy.
1t has long been standard parody on the
American people, held up by foreign PLAYERS
and writers, Of representing us engaged in Do
litiCal discussion and using language which,
even in q Pickwickian sense, is hardly fit for
ears polite. The arrival of Mr.. Dickens at
the present time and his stay in the United
States will, we fear, give some ground for be-
lieving that twenty-five years of experience
have not improved the temper of our citi-
zens. From all indications we anticipate
q violence of denunoiation during the
campaign which it behooves all those
uho o6o % -
mitigate. We would earnestly ask the gen.
tlemen of both parties to throw their influence
in the scale of politics, and seek to bring order
and courtesy out of chaos. OF course, it is of
no use to expect that the pot-house politician
will be Chesterfield in manners, but we would
have the men in high position, and who re-
present our people in the eyes of Europe, so
Oomport themselves as not to bring us into dis
grace. This warning is not unnecessary.
We have read speeches from gentlemen
holding Offices of national trust and honor
which contain sentiments much more apropoS
to resident of Billingsgate than to Senator
of the United States. 1t is with such orators
that this influence should be especially ex-
erted. ANY dereliction on their part exposes
us TO ridicule and abuse, while the rawlings of
the small politician only disgust the few
great mass of the public There is an ample
field for all the exertion of influence in thus
seeking to tone down the asperity of politics.
At the best, discussion between two men
who differ on every subject under the sun, can
not be very courteous affair. When the
statements of one are met with a fiat denial by
the other, there can never be an excess Of
pOliteness.
If we could but impress on all our speakers
that by exhibiting regard for the feelings of
their opponents they would make much
stronger address than if they indulged in in
vective, we think that great reform might be
anticipated. We would furnish every partisan
orator with the old motto that "Sound argument
and not loud voice, brings conviction" The
class of speeches which do the most good are
not those which abound in denunciation. To
be assured that your opponent has broken all
the commands of the Decalogue rather tends
to make you defend him as an abused and
traduCed man, than it does to fire your
indignation to enthusiasm. A man will
work ten times as hard by being thoroughly
convinced that his cause is right, than by
being told that his opponent is in the wrong.
Negative conviction is poor incentive to
action. If half the time and energy spent in
abuse would be devoted to argument-sound,
dignifed argument-a much larger harvest
would be secured to the worker. We earnestly
hope that this fact will be more generally
recognized, and we will have a chance to more
frequently hear the remark, "That is a sensi
BILE speech, +" made by those who come from q
political meeting. The judgment too often,
with thinking men, is that the speaker ex-
hausted all his ability in abuse rather than
discussion.
The Scriptural command to be temperate in
all things applies with as much force to speak
ing as 1t does to eating and drinking. ANY
excess, either mental or physical, is always
injurious. We think it is uudeniablv
true that the mind suffers as much by q
violent harangue, such as is generally heard
on our political stumps, as the BODY does bv
an Over-indulgence in liquor, or by PLAYING
the gouTmGnd at the table. Let us, then bone
that our leading men, during the coming wear
will exhibit a marked improvement in tbe
tone of their discussions. 1t does not deta
riorate from the strength of an address bs
cause in it your adversary is not attacked al
though you were very shrew. Let us, then
have courteous, dignifed, argumentativ
speakers, who, while they possess all the fir
= .-o,,.,v aud ,yabemanca of dpolama atiOn naoaa