New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-06-04
SELF VERSUS THE PUBLIC GOOD.

BILE VERSUS IhE PUbLlU GUUD,
The inherent selfishness of mans nature
is the most serious drawback; to all general
progress. Individual interest is, in
most minds, the absorbing idea of ir terest
and the general welfare of society is looked
upon as of secondary importance, if not
lost sight OF altogether. So completely
prevalent is this idea that man who ig-
nores his personal success and labors TO Sc
cure the public veal is looked upon, in this
utllitarian age, as lunatic and fool.
The almost utter impossibiity at this
day Of finding public man who will sac
rifice private interest to the public welfare
is sad yet patent reality. Men seek and
accept office for purely personal ends, and
seem to forget that the public who honors
them has any claim upon either their ser.
vices or their attention.
So terribly prevalent is this habit of pub
lie servants become that it has assumed the
form and features Of second nature, until
the man Of public trust who has the least
| ~ : Nv A0Ab lOE lut Will VI NtlldIt VI Nut
public is looked upon as LusuS ndttro3-
something wonderful, if not monstrous.
In these days that try mems souls there
is great necessity for public men that will
and dare prove themselves exceptions to
the general rule. The days are upon us
when we need and must have men of moral
tnrpR u A 1trt1l vi
who can and will secure those great prac-
teal results upon which the hopes and hap
piness of this great people depend.
Not only is moral honesty desderalum
among our public men, but moral nerve is
now pre-eminently the staple article of de
mand in the great political market where
heretofore have been bought and sold all
the great and dearest rights of the American
people.
These are not the days for weak
kneed, fearful men. We need men of moral
backbone. Men who, first, have nerve
enough to understand aud acknowledge
that they are not placed in power solely
for their individual interest and aggrandize-
ment and who have the moral courage to
do their duty, regardless of personal conse-
quences.
Fearful, timid men, as well as unscrupu-
lous and selfish men, are not the men for
Office now. The present is pregnant with
events too momentous and far-reaching in
their future effects to trust TO quacks and
charlatans. The political surgeon must
WELD he forcepts with firm and master
hand. if we are to have a safe delivery.
The great and glazing fault, therefore,
of our public men at this day, is the want
of nerve to do their duty. The fear OF
public sentiment, even in this region of
political fury and moral devastation, is CON
temptible, as well as fatal to all hopes of
future peace. The idea Of men who were
appointed to do certain special acts, to
carry out a defined course Of policy to
which they had morally obligated them
selves by accepting the position they hold,
being inundated by the public senti-
ment " of those whose vices they were
especially appointed to correct and remove,
is about as intelligent and manly as it
would be for a general TO fear the enemy
whom he was sent to conquer, and plead
that though he knew it to be his
duty to conquer, and that ample force
was at his command to enable him
to conquer and he knew that the
power that appointed him expected him to
keep his pligtted faith, yet he found, as he
neared the enemy, that the public senti-
ment' among them was so general and so
po'oeJd that he really dare not attempt to
conquer them.
Now, would not every intelligent, honest
man say to such an officer, "either do your
duty or resign" And wonld not man of
real moral honesty do either one or the
other2
Now, these are days that will not admit
Of mineing matters. Our people here in
the South are in a condition that demands
intelligence and nerve to save us from
social and political anarchy, on which we
are fast verging. Gentlemen have been
placed in power here to prevent this
threatened evil Will they prove them
selves right men in the right place. or
will they prevent success, and induce ruin,
by incumbering Offices for which they are
mentally or morally unfit
Every eye in the Union is now TUNED
upon those in power. At the North mil
lions of anxious eyes and honest hearts
await the action of those now in power
And the millions Of the loyal hearts Of the
South await with an anxiety that can be
realized only by those in their situation the
action of those in power.
Never before were such grave RESPONSE
bilities resting on public men as those gen.
tlemen have assumed who have accepted
position in the great work Of reconstructing
the Southern States. A future awaits them
fraught with individual veal or woe, ac-
eording as they fulfill their high and mo-
mentous mission.
We ask those In authority to hiHjc and
act. Are they totally blinded by prejudice;
or will they allow their heretofore glorious
regulations to suffer by negligence? The
man who to-day dares to do his whole
duty, and fulfill his plighted faith to those
who appointed him 70 power, will find the
future pregnant with honor and glory that