Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1868-09-28
DARE TO BE UNFETTERED.

4sAD 10 AcSsi1y u hldboOA VI spun W ~
ISLANDERS. to hear the solicitations Of
Office seekers As they multiply IL the
ears of the man nominated by his party
for some position of trnst, in which, if
he is successful, he has the opportunity
of aiding others, If indeed he may not
not bestow some boon sought by the
hungry oormorants who beset him, rea-
sons why they, of all others. should
share his privilege and bear the bounty
of his favor.
This has its effect, and too often the
candidate, to receive vote, or to please
q friend, or to augment public esteem
and gain the desired Office, promise to
each one the blessing craved. Thus,
most if not all, go into Office fettered,
tied hand and foot with promises made
which cannot, in the nature OF the case,
be kept. This is all wrong. It is wrong
in its influence on the representative, it
is wrong to the people and to the cleo
tors, and, in its working, it is wrong to
the interests of the state and the nation.
We are just now entering upon one of
the most exciting periods of our coun-
try's history, in the election SO soon to
follow; great interests are involved, and
the men who shall be elected servants
of the people, not their se,1s and slares.
should go to work unfettered by any
law, save the law of right; unfettered by
any promise, save the promise involved
in their oath OF office.
We sincerely hope the candidates
now running for the several offices
named will dare to be unfettered in this
particular. We have no question that
as men Of principle they will not, if
elected, be unmindful of the friends
who aided them in contest and triumph.
This is all right. 1t should be so; but
by no means extort the promise to help
to another Office, boor or ignoramus,
because, forsooth, he has been able to
oyerawe or bully class of men to vote
as he directed, from influences degrad
ing to manhood and ruinous to self-re-
spect.
We say to all candidates, dare to be
unfetered. 1t may require an amount
of pluck far greater than is at first sup
posed, but with it, in sufficient quantity
to be free from these helps to office;
and then, from such burdens and abuse
as will surely follow if every promise is
not kept, every man chosen to position
of public trust, is free to do the right
thing, and if he has anything then to
give away, he is free to choose the
".right man for the right place.
Dare to be unfettered. Let the peo-
pie feel that their candidate cannot be
ought-therefore cannot be sold
There is another side to this question
and we say to voters, dare to be unfet-
tered.
1t is equally amusing to hear candi-
dotes promising the people all sorts of
good things if they are only elected.
Great local benefits, splendid results to
the party in their elevation, and as for
offices, why every man who asks is pro-
missed what he asks for, if he will only
vote for him. Such candidates remind
us of the story told of Ethan Allen,
when he was a prisoner in England, sick
and weak, poor and destitute, with
halter about his neck and the doom of
death hanging over his head; he was of
fered the fee of Vermont and a lord
ship, if he would enter the British SER
vice. He was in character and spirit
unfettered. What was his reply?
"Your Majesty here, gentlemen, re-
minds me of certain other majesty
named in Scriptures, who offered our
Saviour all the lands in the world if he
would fall down and worship him; when
the fact was the poor devil didn't own a
foot of land on earth to give away"
We need not point the moral Of this
anecdote, on the topic of this article,
but repeatto candidates and voters, dare
to be unfettered.