Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-01-12
LEADERS.

The People need no better Leaders
than their own convictions of right
Ideas rule with them overpoweringly;
and men, however great, are but feather
weights, in the nicely adjusted balance of
an intelligent Public Opinion.
Prominent publicists, soldiers as well
as statesmen however able do not always
comprehend the power of this truth;
and make mistakes accordingly. Receiv-
ing respect for their services in cause;
advanced to positions on account Of their
Identification with certain principles; their
latent conceit, somewhat stimulated by
the fiattery Of toadys who breathe adu-
latiOn that they may enjoy peculation,
not unfrequently leads them into the IA
tai assumption that the honors paid them
are rendered to their individuality, in
stead Of to them in their representative
character, as the mouth pieces, the advo-
Gates, the retained counsel of great IS
sues. Daniel Webster, measurably, made
this mistake when he sustained the false
ly called Compromise measure of 1850,
Fugitive Slave Law and all. Willard
Fillmore, of feebler fame, was a victim
of the same error; and John Tyler, be-
fore him, was inundated for his deser-
ton Of a cause and a principle. An
drew johnson, William H. Seward, Hen
~ Ward Beecher, are shining examples
of the powerlessness of Great Leaders
before the might of Great Truths.
We could almost pity Seward for the
extremeness Of his fall he who but
year or two ago stood upon the highest
pinnacle of popular favor, now lying
low down in the Valley of the Shadow
of political Death, utterly, irretrievably
ruined and undone. The "tinkle of
his little bell, when backed by the
whole moral sediment and political force
Of the nation, was a sound of power-it
would now be a feeble, meaningless
sound. VIM. II. Stewards voice, husky
and hoarse with age though it is. once
stirred men 20 high resolves and deter
mined actions, through every recess of
the land-it now bears no greater vol
ume Of force or sound than his little bell.
Fallen, art thou, o son of the morn
ing fallen = Thou didst think myself
SO potent, that but to annunciate thy will
was sufficient to make millions change in
the moment the convictions engendered
by thy life time of work and labor =
What deploraJle mistake A princi
pie Of right once rooted in mind--a con
viction of justice once possessed by brain
and heart-abileth forever 10 people,
unless corrupted by long indulgence 10
power, or avarice, in the lusts of vanity
and the flesh.
Fortunately, the American people, as
n whole, are yet a Just minded people,
fearing God, honoring virtue. loving jus
tice. And when William II. Seward
and Andrew johnson set themselves up
to favor slavery reaction, TO restore the
rule of the oligarchy'of Southermism"
as it existed before the war, to make re-
bellion respectable and honorable instead
of Odious and criminal-theB the Amer
lean people chose to follow their own
convictions instead of recreaDt leaders,
whom they consigned TO the outer dark
ness of impotency and contempt, as un-
faithful servants, unworthy of further
respect and confidence.
Let all Leaders" great and small,
take warning by their fall Ainaeapo-
Us Chronicle.