Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-09-21
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE


/ .r.. ..
Among the enemies OF Freedom, none
are more potent than the DEMAGOGUEs
/ in all ages the bane, and workers of the
ruin, of Republics. Advocating danger.
Gus and unsOund doctrines, in order Ia
climb to power, they care not by how
crooked paths they reach il. To them
| are owing the diseases that eat out the
heart OF Republicanism, and make Free
4 dom but q name; 10 them, popular Ii
| cense and disregard Of law, interference
with the freedom Of elections, and fraud
and violence at the polls; to them the
stirring Of sectional questions that infu-
riate one part Of q country against the
other; fanatical doctrines that distract
and divide crude sOphistries that mis-
lead, and mad experimests that inn
pOverish; legislation that disgraces,
and the neglect Of national de-
fences that weaken, q country. To
them, injustices towards weaker na-
| tiOns, and violations Of the general peace,
| which Providence invariably furnishes
at last with the ruin of the nation that
so sins. To them the destruction Of all
that is conservative in government. To
the victories that ruin, and the revenge
ful cruelties that dishOnour.
To corrupt and demOralize the People /;
| to make EXpediency q national idol, and
the people deaf to the virtue Of reason
| and justice; to make the restraints of
wholesome laws odiOus, and sound polit-
| ical doctrine be regarded as heretical f;
| to put themselves forward as the Tri-
bunes of the People, demanding for them
more liberty and less government; to
| inflsme their vanity and initiate their
| self-esteem; to propose and urge agrariaD
measures, whose inevitable result is gen.
eral Decentralization and the desolstiOn Of
ruin; to cast into the hands Of
the people the election OF all
officers, even Of the judiciary, so
making impartiality and independence
on the bench almost impossible; to lead
the people 10 distrust all who are wise
and sagacious among them, and Danish
from the public cOunsels all who are not
unfit and incompetent; to descend to
the lowest arts, the crookedests devices
aud the bssest practices, TO falsehOOd and
slander and self-degradation, in order to
obtain vOtes,-these are the usual and
common expedients of the Demagogue,
fawning, sycophantic and servile TO the
people when seeking power, and inso-
lent, vain and Incapable, when it has
been gained.
By these means, the body polite after
a time becomes wholly diseased and cor
rupt. Feuds and disssensions ALLEVIATE
its different sections from each other;
the plainest Constitutional provisions
are evaded or recklessly set at nought.
The most unsOund and dangerous theo-
ries becomes part of the national creed
confidence in the honesty of public men
is lost, and the velocity of the nations
downward progress continually acceler-
ated, until it rushes into strife and sud-
den ruin.
Sound opinions in Statesmanship are
seldom popular; and the people, always
short-sighted and unwise, distrusting the
Statesmen whose vision is keener and
more prophetic than their own, will
have no leaders but those who stand on
their own level of capacity and intellect.
No doctrine is so absurd, so dangerous,
so GemoraliZing or so dishonest, that it
will not find favour, or that the Dema-
gogue, il he think it likely to advance
his prospects for prefermeht, will not
urge it on the people.
He needs neither honesty nor honour
nor principle, neither intellectual capAc-
ity, nor StatesmAnship nor learning but
only kind of bastard eloquence, pIausi-
bility, cunning, and total disregard for
the ultimate consequences to the public
Of the courses to which he urges IL, II
only they are likely to result ia profit to
himself. DemagOgues have never been
wanting in any Government; and Un-
fortunately there never was people that
was not prone to be deceived and
deluded by them. To expose these
architects of ruin whenever it
shall be in your power, to dimin-
isb their influence, prevent their success, !
and defeat their attempts to mislead the |
people, is hencefOrth for you a sworn |
and solemn duty; and in this work and !
warfare, no man is wholly pOwerless. |
Every where and daily, occasions to |
couDterset the poisonous influences Of
the Demagogue Will present themselves;
and however little you may seem to |
effect, remember tnat the widows mite 1
may in the end be followed by results as
great as those that flow from the rich |
mans costly offering.